Under a Pale shattered moon
by Abel Sephaos
Summary: An escape tactic gone wrong leads to Abel Iscariot the Good Hunter, and his Doll waking up in a strange world with an even stranger moon. The Hunters Dream might have faded and the Hunt ended, but finding ones worth in the waking world is harder than it seems.
1. The End of a Nightmare

Under a Pale shattered moon

A RWBY/Bloodborne crossover

I do not own anything pertaining to anything what so ever within this work of fanfiction. Absolutely nothing, at all.

While he technically counts as an OC, Abel Iscariot will most definitely still follow along the same plot development each and every character created in Bloodborne has followed as well, meaning surviving anything the Great Ones and the Pthemurians have thrown at them.

I have seen a few of these crossovers popping up and thought to try my hand at it. My other stories will be updated as my muse comes to me, as I have a difficult time focusing on just one thing at a time. The only story that is still up in the air currently is Naruto No Enton, and that is because I screwed up by making Naruto too powerful at such a young age, but at the same time I think I can roll with it.

This crossover shall have NO Naruto elements as all of my other stories have, so expect a departure from standard plot and character development on my part.

Well, no better time than present to get started on the story,

Fear the Old Blood!

[UPSM]

A loud groan filled the air as blood spattered against the pale flowers filling the once beautiful clearing surrounded by tomb stones. An elderly gentleman wielding a vicious looking scythe with strange etchings held the bladed weapon close to the armored neck of a man kneeling before him, the kneeling figure grasping the rather deep wound threatening to remove his right arm cleanly from his body.

The kneeling man wore a black shawl like cloak around his shoulders with silver mail looking armor clinging to his chest like a second skin. The mail was unlike any other seen in the past ages of man, slightly deformed and remolded into slag by the extreme heat wielded by the keepers of the old ones.

His gauntlets and lower torso were covered in much the same fashion with multiple leather belts crisscrossing his hips, each with either crimson vials or silver bullets hanging from their grasps. A light mail skirt covered down to his knees while black, feather like strips of cloth hung from beneath. His arms were covered in the same chain mail down until his elbows, where the vicious looking gauntlets began.

Despite looking like metal, the silvery bits of his armor were created from super heated ash from an age long before Abel was born, hidden in obscurity much like the Pthemurians and their chalices.

Three different leather pouches hung behind the wounded and kneeling figure, filled to the brim with different combat related tools, though the elderly gentleman seemed to not care for the extra additions to the wounded mans repertoire.

"You must accept your death, Abel. You must forget the Hunt, it is over for you..." The elderly man trailed off, his voice as grave as the area they fought in.

The kneeling man identified as Abel groaned before reaching into his leather pouch at his waist before throwing powdered bone ash, an extra catalyst used to increase his Evelyn's power, directly into the elderly gentleman's eyes before rolling backwards as quickly as he could. Seeing as his cheap trick bought him a few moments, Abel took the precious few seconds of distraction to inject himself with one of the crimson vials carried on his person, allowing the deep wound to slowly knit itself back together.

While the pain was distracting, it was not enough to pierce through the sedative riddled mind of Abel as he quickly injected himself with two more vials of liquid, one in each thigh. The first vial had been a sedative to ease the sharp pins and needles now roaring through his right limb while the second was to increase the regenerative effects of the first blood vial forced into his veins.

'Thanks, Adella... I owe you one.' The armored hunter thought to himself as he rolled the injured limb slowly, testing its maneuverability. While not fully healed, it would have to do as the elderly gentleman seemed to have wiped enough of the powder from his eyes to glare heatedly at the armored and cloaked individual facing off against him, noting that he now stood like a man possessed.

"Gehrman, you taught me everything I know, but the apprentice has to create his own little niche tactics somewhere." Abel stated evenly, palming a few poison knives from his weapon pouch while judging the distance between himself, his former Master, and his weapon.

'Well, it looks like it is going to take a cheap shot to put down this old codger.' Abel thought bitterly while slowly pushing a bit of his energy into the yellowed bone hanging between his chest and his ashen bone armor.

With a twitch of his hand, Abel shot his Evelyn in Gehrman's direction while activating the technique that gave Gehrman his fearsome reputation, even one hundred years, as far as Abel was able to discern, after the events of Old Yharnam.

As the Keen Hunter expected, the First Hunter dodged to the right, having favored that leg over his left throughout the entire fight. With grim determination, Abel initiated the ending phase of the fight for his life.

'Quickening!'

With a flash of yellowed smoke, Abel cut Gehrman off mid-dash with a vicious headbutt, reinforced with the eyeless Cainhurst helmet completely covering his face, the only opening the helmet provided allowed his long, silver hair to cascade down his back.

The slightly fluted helmet easily smashed through the cartilage making up Gehrman's nose, causing even more crimson life-force to erupt and spray over the slowly reddening flowers around the two men. Using the second distraction within a few minutes of their fight, Abel slipped the two poison knives clutched between his fingers deep into the elderly Hunters flesh, easily destroying his kidney with the viciously shaped throwing knives.

While not a weapon that would put down any Beast, Kin or Great One, Eileen the Crow had taught Abel a very valuable lesson when it came to Humans and killing them. They were as vulnerable to poison as he was.

Gehrman, despite being sustained in some form or fashion by the Hunters Dream, was as Human as Abel was, or at least as Human as Abel wished he was after how much blood had been infused directly into his body and essence. While not consumed by the blood lust that accompanied the ashen blood that overcomes those who undertake the Blood Ministrations of Yharnam, Abel was without a doubt a very unique hunter due to his innate nature to adapt to the Old Blood coursing his veins.

A pained look quickly came and passed from Gehrman's face before a grim smile took its place. "The night... and the dream were long... Thank you."

Abel mutely nodded his head as he slowly lowered down the stilling body of his teacher, the closest person outside of the Doll to the usually stoic Hunter. The ashen bone set adorning his chest, lower body and arms gleamed in the baleful blood of Gehrman, only accentuated by the pale moonlight filtering down from above. The moonlight suddenly increasing was the only thing that indicated something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Turning slowly, Abel watched with widened eyes as a grotesque... thing, likely an Old One like Mergo's wet nurse, with the most disturbing set of limbs the teenaged Hunter had ever laid eyes upon descended from the sky, the moon overly superimposed within the background.

With a single thought, Abel reached down and secured Gehrman's Burial Blade within his grasp in its sword form, the wooden contraption making up the shaft of his scythe secured to his back by a few leather straps. Luckily, he had enough time to ready himself after doing another check of his previous weapon, a now ruined Reiterpallash that lay shattered not far from where Gehrman laid.

'Of course he will break my weapon and nearly remove my arm within his opening move.'

'I guess I will have to make due.' Abel thought bitterly, preparing himself for the fight of his life, or the second one within this hour in the least. 'Doll didn't mention this abomination here... I wonder why, she surely would have known about something like this lurking around.'

The creature moved forward and stretched its grotesquely long arms out and snatched Abel up from the ground before the teenaged killer could so much as blink, threatening to either consume or crush him with nary a thought.

Time seemed to slow to a halt as Abel stared directly in the eyes, or as directly as he could using a mask with only eldritch etchings allowing him sight could. 'After all I have faced, after crushing everything beneath my heel, it would be a Great One to put me down. Hopefully the little birdies trick should work here as well.'

With an inhumane roar, a concussive force erupted from Abel's vocal chords, pushing the eldritch beings hands away from their previous position while giving Abel enough time to think heavily on the Hunter's Mark to hopefully escape this encounter, to fight another day.

It failed. Well, it worked, but it did not work as intended due to the strange beings interference.

Abel only saw black. 'Damn. Damn it all to Mensis!'

[UPSM]

The sounds of birds chirping and the feeling of morning dew was not what Abel was expecting to wake up to. In fact, the teenager dared say he did not expect to wake up at all. The sudden shock at feeling the morning sun hitting his flesh through the light chain mail armoring under his rather pointed and overly complicated gauntlets was enough to jolt him from his dreamless slumber.

'Wha... what?' were the only coherent thoughts that were able to be understood through the garbled utterings of the Great Ones now floating through his head. 'Where am I?'

Struggling to stand, Abel turned and got a good look at the area he found himself in. The Graveyard of Hunters was as pristine as he remembered, if not in even better shape due to now existing outside of a white void. The etchings upon the head stones were as clear as day to the Keen Hunter, once garbled and warped through a century within the expanse of the Dream.

A few feet to his left, the stilled and cooled body of Gehrman lay, almost looking as if the elderly man was simply sleeping. With grim determination, Abel proceeded to ignore the rest of the sleep and eldritch thoughts trying to push their way out of his skull and set himself steady on his objective, giving his teacher the proper burial he deserved.

Cremation was the preferred method of Yharnam in disposing of bodies, after draining the corpses for all of its blood of course. Abel refused to alight the body of the man, knowing that the chances of beast hood occurring after death were slim to none. Unless they had a snake parasite in their bodies, but Abel was more than certain that such a thing wouldn't happen to the man sustained by the Hunters Dream.

Or so he hoped. Just to be sure, Abel took the shaft to the Burial Blade and extended it before gently tapping the stick against Gehrman's skull. Not seeing any split in the skin that could indicate the parasite, Abel released a breath he didn't know he was holding and set to work on burying the body.

The shovel located in the corner of the bone yard, just behind the tree Gehrman was so fond of, was enough to till the earth away, allowing Abel to rest the body into the nestles of mother natures bosom for his final rest.

Not religious in the slightest, Abel didn't bother uttering any sweet nothings to the headstone. "Sleep well, you old bastard, you've earned your rest."

The Keen Hunter finally made his way from the graveyard and towards the workshop proper where someone he wasn't expecting to ever see again waited patiently for him. "Doll? I thought you only existed in the dream?"

The Plain Doll turned and acknowledged his presence before tilting her head to the side. "As did I, Good Hunter... 'Tis curious indeed."

Not satisfied with the rather cryptic answer, Abel ignored the woman for a moment to take stock and just what was present within the hunters workshop, now mysteriously deposited in the middle of a rather large portion of woodland if the massive trees around the fenced perimeter were anything to go by.

"I will ask again when you grasp your bearings, Doll... Do you have any idea where we are?" Abel questioned over his shoulders while digging through the large chest located to the right of the entrance of the work shop. The sound of metal clinking against glass and rumpling cloth was enough to cause concern due to the contents of the chest, but Abel finally pulled away with a smug expression present in his body language.

Wearing the Cainhurst helmet protected the teenager from showing his face to any and everything, instead choosing to express himself through gestures and how he held himself, something the Doll had grown used to.

"Is everything to your satisfaction, Good Hunter?" The rather tall animated doll questioned, causing Abel to nod his head before he turned his attention to the stockpile of assorted crimson, blue and green vials with spring loaded needles for quick injection lining the shelves and cabinet to the left of his storage box. To the right of the vast collection of vials was his workbench used for altering and reinforcing his many different weapons.

The Burial Blade at his waste was an unfamiliar weight but it was one the silver haired teenager would continue to bear. Seridite weapons were by far much more powerful than the simple steel and bloodgem reinforced weapons that Abel was used to using, evident in the fact that Gehrman's scythe was easily capable of shattering the Reiterpallash, a Cainhurst special weapon that cost Abel a fair bit of blood.

Grabbing a double-helix styled dagger from the workbench, Abel gave it a quick test in sharpness by tossing one of his silver hairs into the air before slicing against it without much force with the dagger.

The hair easily parted in two, causing Abel to whistle lightly under his helm. "Eileen sure knew how to keep her weapon in decent shape." The teenaged Hunter complimented the now deceased woman before turning his attention to the fireplace.

Usually sustained through whatever primordial force that held the Hunters Dream together, Abel was not in the slightest surprised when he found a cool hearth with no trace of firewood in sight. The cooking pot hanging over the metal grate used to hold the burning wood was a new addition, but a welcomed one as Abel was no longer sustained by blood alone now that the dream, Nightmare, was finally over.

'Alright, first thing is first...' the Hunter thought to himself, eying the area surrounding his little slice of heaven with an appraising gaze. 'Finding food, water, and firewood. What could possibly go wrong?'

[UPSM]

"I regret nothing." Abel muttered to himself while brushing his gauntlets clean of dust and wood chips before doing the same for his cloak. Twelve white masks now laid on the ground before his feet while bodies as black as night slowly dissolved to ash around him. Thinking on how he got in this mess in the first place, the teenager began scolding himself on his hasty actions.

Minding his own business, the Keen Hunter had proceeded into the forest while leaving shining coins in certain positions to mark his path, searching for any form of wild game or animal tracks.

Growing up in the Hinterlands had given the silver haired teenager a fair bit of skill when it came to hunting and fishing for food, as evident in his current apparel and weapon. Instead of dressing in the ashen bone armor and Cainhurst helm, he wore the first hunters set he came across while scouring Yharnam for its treasures and beasts.

A dark leather mask covered his lower face and throat while a tricone hat rested atop his head and pulled forward, only exposing his silver hair and crimson eyes to the world. Carmine eyes stared out at the pack of wild animals the teenager had been stalking for the last mile and a half, his Evelyn drawn and leveled towards the one furthest from the pack.

From his position, Abel caught a glint of white shining from the creatures face before he let the quicksilver bullet infused with his blood loose, easily punching a large hole completely through the beasts skull.

Instead of falling down limp, the creature seemed to collapse in on itself before dissolving into ash. The noise drew the attention of the eleven other beasts now surrounding the fallen body of their comrade before their attention snapped to the bush he now rested in.

Seeing as he was discovered and without anything to show for it, he snapped the Burial Blade down into its shaft before drawing the sword-turned-scythe from his back and giving it an experimental twirl.

Despite having only wielded the weapon once or twice before when Gehrman attempted to instruct him on his combat form, Abel could say he was far more proficient with the pole-arm than he was the small rapier he was well hated for. It showed when he shouldered the weapon and braced himself before swinging it wide over shoulder and knocking three of the eleven remaining creatures from their feet. The eight that were not felled by the powerful strike began to slowly circle the teenager, who eyed them all wearily in turn. Twisting on his heel, Abel lashed out with a wide swipe of the scythe, catching two of the creatures within its reach before he viciously tugged, rending the two creatures in half.

Not waiting any longer, the remaining bear shaped creatures roared and attempted to attack the teenager at once, only for him to remove his focus from an individual and turn it to the entire unit as one.

Rolling backwards twice, the teenaged Hunter dodged a downward swipe that flung earth into the air and two more follow up attacks. The masked bears claws raked across one of the larger trees and almost gouged completely through the oaken material, causing Abel's eyes to widen slightly at the creatures strength and cutting power.

'Well, I know not to get hit by those, that is for certain.' The silver haired Hunter thought to himself while separating the Burial Blade from its shaft once more, returning the curved blade into its sword form. A quick draw of his Evelyn saw the beast currently rampaging after him dropping like a rock before disappearing into ash much like its comrades.

Five of the masked bears remained of the group of twelve, though the ones remaining seemed to be runts compared to those that had attacked first. The masked bears seemed to hesitate after seeing their comrades cut down so quickly but steeled themselves soon after and launched themselves forward as one.

Abel jumped backwards a single pace before swinging his blade wide, catching one of the creatures through the mouth and slicing halfway into its skull. Another shot of his Evelyn dropped another creature that was approaching from his left before he was forced to dodge once again. Two of the three remaining bears launched themselves forward while one seemed to slink away into the shadows to escape.

Turning his attention back to the only two attempting to attack him, Abel was successful in dodging the first swipe of the creature closest to him but was clipped on his side by the second closing in from his opposite side.

"Oh, Damn that hurts!" Abel ground out while disposing of the arm that the creature attacked him with a vicious swipe downwards of his blade. A second shot from the Evelyn dispatched the remaining bear without any further conflict, leaving the silver haired teenager alone with his thoughts. The lapse in thought allowed the bear that slunk through the shadows to get another blow on the unaware hunter, who had began to inject a crimson vial into his leg to heal the wound on his ribs. Though unable to draw blood thanks to the armor stopping the worst of the claws, the force of the blow was enough to crack a few ribs and cause general discomfort for the silver haired Hunter.

The second blow jarred the teen from his thoughts as he slammed head first against a tree just a few feet to his right. Unspeakable anger welled up in his chest as he slowly rose from his laying position once he hit the ground. A clap of his hands saw a large amount of blue clusters to appear around him before homing in on the remaining creature, tearing it to shreds almost instantly.

'That technique still takes too much out of me.' Abel thought to himself as he knelt down and slowly recovered his breath while reaching behind him for yet another vial. Feeling around and finding nothing, the teenager quickly realized that he might indeed be in trouble, having only brought that single vial with him for emergencies.

'Damn, Damn, Damn!'

Dealing with overly large groups had always been Abel's weakness, usually having his comrade Nero watching his back had made the teenager grow complacent in his vigilance. The second attack had almost knocked the teenager completely unconscious, though he remained awake through sheer will alone.

The trek back to the workshop was miserable, though the long shaft of the Burial Blade worked as the perfect walking stick. Following the slowly dimming coins through his slightly darkened vision had been a trying experience though the Good Hunter refused to stop for rest long past when he should have. Hours after he was supposed to return, the disheveled Hunter roughly made his way through the workshop and straight towards his stash of blood vials.

Two injections healed the wounds sustained by the strange, masked bears before he wearily set himself down in Gehrman's chair. The Doll was present behind him moments later, gently running her hands through the exposed hair while slowly tracing themselves along his neck.

"Did your trip prove successful?" The Doll questioned, her strangely accented voice finally piercing the silence. A small fire was present within the hearth with tea leaves boiling within the pot, found amongst the remains of the old workshop by the Doll before Abel left for his small expedition.

A sigh escaped the teenagers throat before he could stop it before he roughly tossed his tricomb hat into the storage chest secured by the entrance. "No, not in the slightest. It seems whatever form of game in these woods dissolves immediately after death, so no meat. I will search for fruits and whatever form of vegetables in the morning."

The pale blond doll nodded her head before tilting it sideways in thought. "Have you seen the moon tonight, Good Hunter?"

Abel shrugged his shoulders, lost in thought as his ever faithful helper wheeled him out unto the concrete path leading towards the tombstone directly outside the exit of his home. "The moon is so different here..." The doll trailed off as she looked upwards, causing Abel to finally break himself from his reverie before looking upwards himself.

"That... that cannot be good."

[UPSM]

The sound of large amounts of air being displaced awoke both Abel and the doll from their dreamless slumber. 'What is that infernal noise?' Abel groused to himself while rising from the wheelchair his former teacher resided in for a good portion of his last years.

The doll looked just as curious as Abel did by the tilt of her head, though her expression rarely changed from its stoic expression. The teenager and the animaton with pale blood each walked to the exit and looked upwards, watching as a metal behemoth unlike anything they had ever seen before descended slowly about thirty or so feet from his home in one of the largest clearings around.

"Stay here, Doll, we don't know if that... thing is hostile or not." Abel murmured while drawing the Burial Blade and Evelyn from their sheathe and holster. Making sure that an extra dose of bone ash powder was stuffed in his leather pouch and his vial case was full of blood vials, the Keen Hunter slowly ghosted his way though the metal gate cutting off the workshop after dressing once more in his Cainhurst helmet and his ash bone armor.

It had been more than five days since he had awoken in these strange woods with Doll as his only companion, and just as long since he had anything to sustain himself outside of tea, something that was apparently abundant within the cabinets of the Hunters Workshop. Weakness was starting to set in, though the Keen Hunter refused to let it show in front of his only comrade.

The Doll had become more and more concerned as Abel left every morning at the same time before dawn, only to return late at night when the strangely shattered moon had begun hanging in the sky. Each night, he had grown more and more irritable until he started withdrawing in on himself and meditating for longer and longer periods of time.

Twenty feet from the monstrous being and the noise was still growing, causing Abel to give pause before pulling out his monocular and spying on the beast. A large opening was now present on the underbelly of the beast, allowing for multiple... people? To climb out of its insides.

'Oh, this is just great...' The teenaged Hunter thought blithely, noticing that four of the six present were teenagers themselves while two others seemed to be older and much, much more skilled. By the way the man held himself, Abel was more than sure that the spectacled, silver haired man with a cane would be the toughest opponent amongst the group outside of the woman with the strange riding crop within her grasps.

'What workshop are these folks with? I've never seen weapons quite like theirs...' Abel thought to himself, using his monocular to get a good read on the group of six.

Five of the six were obviously female, though the silver haired teenager knew better than to underestimate an opponent due to gender, seeing as most of the Great Ones were female as was the imposter Iosefka, one of his most difficult opponents, not to mention Eileen.

The first of the females to catch his eye was the one dressed in a knee-length black dress while wielding a scythe much bigger than she was rather easily. From his distance, Abel could not make out her eye color, though her hair was obviously black with a small red streak towards the very ends. A crimson cloak rested around the short teenagers shoulder and over her head, almost completely obscuring her face from view in the morning light.

The second female was rather... chesty, wearing clothing that Women with proper respect for themselves would never wear. A small scoff made its way to his throat though he fought it down easily enough. Golden blond hair adorned the promiscuously dressed woman's head, a shade that Abel could safely say he had never seen before.

A white haired teenager with good sense in fashion by Abel's standard stood not far from the promiscuous teenager, a thin rapier with rotating chambers resting on her hip. 'A woman after my own heart.' Abel thought sarcastically as he watched her lay into her next teammate with barely concealed dislike on her face.

The last of the teenagers had black hair and wore a white sleeveless shirt underneath a black vest while white shorts with black leggings covered her lower body. A small black bow rested atop the last females head which twitched every now and then, causing Abel to question his vision.

'Did... her bow just twitch?' Abel thought to himself before putting away his monocular and trying to slink away back to his workshop.

Only to stop dead in his tracks when he came face to helmet with the only male of their group. "Hello, there." The man greeted easily, a small smile playing on his face. In one hand the man held his cane confidently, in the other he nursed what seemed to be a cup of tea.

Abel seemed taken aback at the close proximity of the man as well as the fact that he was able to completely bypass his sixth sense and sneak up on him. Acting as if such things occurred all the time made the Good Hunter even more weary around his fellow silver haired man.

With a bow of respect, Abel calmly held his right hand out while his left gently rested on his chest while he bowed slightly at the waste. Unlike most green Hunter's, Abel was smart enough to not remove his eyes from the man before him unlike the strange masked bear from the night previously.

"Greetings." The silver haired teenager replied easily enough, his accent much different than the cane bearing mans. Tilting his head to the side, the bespectacled man seemed confused on how the teenager was able to pinpoint his location despite not having eye-holes in his metal helmet.

"Is there something... on my face?" Abel eventually questioned, taking a small step back from the man who continued to stare at him. "There is, isn't there?"

"No, nothing of the sort. I apologize, I just couldn't place your accent. You aren't from around here, are you?" The glasses wearing, cane wielding man eventually replied, breaking the silence between the two. The sound of five different sets of footsteps was enough to spring Abel into action. A yellow whisp of smoke obscured the cane wielding mans vision for a moment before the teenager before him disappeared.

"Well, that was interesting." The man mused to himself, staring in the direction that the silver haired teen no doubt fled in. "What spooked him?"

"Ozpin, there you are! Why did you disappear so suddenly?" The buxom blond woman wielding the riding crop questioned, finally making her way to the silver haired man now identified as Ozpin.

The glasses wearing man seemed to pause before answering smoothly, "I simply thought I saw something. Come, we are just twenty or so feet from the mysterious building." And with that, the silver haired man led the group of five in the direction Abel just fled in.

'Just where would an accent like that originate?'

[UPSM]

"Doll, we have a problem, a very big problem." Abel rattled out, gasping for breath as he stepped foot within the silver gates of the Hunters Workshop.

The porcelain animaton with blood tilted her head to the side before asking the obvious question. "What seems to be the problem, Good Hunter?"

After a few more moments of gulping down air, the helmet wearing teen made his way to his personal storage before withdrawing one of his favorite, if not his heaviest, weapon. The Cannon.

"The strange metal... bird brought humans, six of them. Each seems to be skilled, but one... he was able to completely sneak up on me." Abel finally answered while priming his weapon with ash bone powder and a few extra ingredients of his own concoction to increase the blasting power of the large quicksilver cannonball resting within the chamber of the heavy weapon.

Placing the cannon on the stairs just out of sight, directly facing the gate, Abel made his way back to the shop proper and grabbed his Blade of Mercy and his Burial Blade from where he set them before readying himself for combat. "Stay here until I give the all clear... I can't afford to lose you too, Doll."

If not for the tense situation, the Doll would have replied lovingly, but instead chose to not her head daintily before stilling herself in the corner.

Once he was sure enough time had passed, Abel slowly made his way down the stairs and towards the steel gate that separated the woods from his workshop. The sound of rapping against his gate brought him from his planning as a spike of adrenaline stronger than previously felt lanced its way through his body.

All six of his fellow humans lie in wait on the other side of the gate, each with a curious expression on their face as they admired the white flowers and scenery peeking through the steel bars.

"Whoa, I've never seen flowers like this before!" The black haired, crimson cloaked female exclaimed while kneeling down to get a better look at the flora that had overtaken the Graveyard of Hunters.

"Ruby... RUBY, here he comes!" The yellow haired, promiscuous woman eventually called out, getting the attention of the little red-hooded one. Abel almost faltered as he finally got a good look at the smaller females eyes, but continued on until he was just a few feet from the gate, the Burial Blade already in its scythe form and held aloft in his grip.

"What business do you have with the Hunters Workshop?" Abel eventually called out, breaking the silence that descended after Ruby rose from her kneeling position.

Ozpin shared a look with his blond companion before raising his hand calmly. "We simply wish to know where this building came from, as it was not here until just a few days ago, yet it looks as if it were here all along. It is rather suspicious that such a thing would happen, let alone within MY neck of the woods." The cane wielder replied, causing Abel to slightly tighten his grip on his weapon.

"Anything past this gate belongs to me, so this little section of woods belong to myself and the Hunters of this Workshop. From which branch did you hail, the Church? The Unseen Village? Perhaps the Choir?"

The silver haired man seemed to pause before replying evenly, "None of the above. I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon, an academy for Hunters and Huntresses in training. We come in peace, I assure you. We just wish to speak."

Abel tilted his head to the side like he had seen the professor and the doll do multiple times before he eventually shrugged his shoulders. "You should have said you were Hunter's in the first place. My name is Abel Iscariot, welcome to my home." He stated calmly while opening the gate and beconning them inside. It was only when the last of the six entered his domain did Abel shut the gate and reapply the eldritch rune that prevented any others outside of himself from opening the gate, something he had thought of only the day before.

While the strange utterings of the Great Ones had slowly wound down, Abel could still feel them writhing just beneath the surface of his consciousness, waiting to be tapped into and understood. Trying to ignore the strange crawling feeling in his mind, Abel took this time to get a better look at the six standing before him.

The crimson cloak wearing little teenager had the most stunning silver eyes Abel had gazed upon, a shade he could easily get lost in as he had gotten lost in his weapons while sharpening and maintaining them. Her blond, buxom teammate had dark blueish purple eyes, the same shade as flowers he could barely recall that grew in the wild.

The sky blue eyes of the white haired teen were as cold as Abel felt just by gazing at the white wearing teenager, causing him to quickly overlook her in turn of taking in the eyes of their final teammate, if not because she was the most curious. Amber eyes honed in on the steel helmet covering his face and if Abel wasn't any wiser, he would think this black haired female was capable of seeing through his mask.

The riding crop wielding woman had a stern expression on her face, her impatience visible just below the surface of her rather cold... lime green eyes. Abel tried to pay her no mind, instead focusing on the cane wielding man once again. Now that he could get a good look at him without feeling the slightest bit threatened by his proximity, the silver haired teenager could honestly say that if not for their different eye colors, they could play the part of twins easily enough.

"This academy of yours... has nothing to do with the study of humans and their evolution, does it?" Abel eventually asked as he led the group of six up the set of stairs while grabbing his cannon from its resting spot. The large eyes of the four teenagers told Abel all he needed to know about them expecting such a thing, though Ozpin and his associate seemed nonplussed at the rather large weapon having been pointed directly at their faces.

The group made their way into the workshop slowly, each of their expressions too different for Abel to place them all. The only one who seemed unsurprised by the amount of weapons packed into the rather large area seemed to be the cane wielding man, tipping Abel off that the man had indeed seem many things throughout the years that would teach him to school his features in such a way

Ozpin almost stumbled over himself at the question before he quickly answered in the negative, causing Abel to release his breath slowly. "Okay, Doll, it's clear... they are as friendly as we can hope for."

With a nod, the lifeless doll in the corner rose to her full height of seven foot and resumed working on the tea she started when Abel left to confront the strange metal beast from before. Holding up a spoon of the liquid for her human companion, the Doll smiled slightly when Abel dutifully removed his Cainhurst helmet and sipped the amber liquid gently after blowing on it. If the strange group was unnerved by the rather tall being that mostly resembled a human, they were skilled enough to hide it. Or polite enough, rather.

"You are getting better every day, Doll, I have to say. Would any of you care for a cup?" Abel questioned over his shoulder, not turning to face the group as he made his way back to his work station, replacing his Blade of Mercy back into its original position before releasing the Burial Blade from its scythe form. Ozpin merely held out his cup for the woman replicate, allowing her to refill his cup with the beautifully scented tea brewed by the animaton.

"OH MY GOSH! I NEED ONE, NOW!" Ruby shouted after watching Abel put his most recent aquisition in the form of weaponry away, causing him to turn his gaze backwards towards the female.

"You have a scythe already, leave mine alone." He stated simply, knowing a weapon fanatic when he saw one. "This one is a momenta, either way."

Ruby looked away with a small blush on her face at the blunt response but did not give up, instead stepping forward to get a better look at the different weapons that lined the walls. Everything Gehrman, Abel and his many predecessors had collected throughout the century the Workshop remained active inside the dream had lined the walls, ranging from different types of Saw Spears to different length Chikage.

"Wowww!" The black haired teenager gushed while getting a good look at all of the 'old-school' weapons lining the walls of the workshop, her white haired teammate soon joining her in gazing at the weapons but refraining from touching any of the wickedly sharp weapons. The black haired, yellow eyed female seemed to gravitate towards the Chikage selection and its many different variants while the buxom blond eyed the gauntlets and beast claw styled weapons with a critical eye.

Ozpin broke a small grin at the teenaged girls antics before getting a good look at the silver haired Hunter and his... Doll.

Crimson eyes stared out from a slightly feminine face, though the multiple vicious looking scars took any of the softer features of his face and hardened them. Three scars trailed over his left eye, a gift left to him by Ludwig himself when Abel had first made his way into Yharnam proper and to the Great Bridge. Abel responded in kind by having shot the foul beast in the face, many many times, before driving his own bladed cane into its brain cavity and ending its tyranny over that specific end of the bridge.

Another vicious scar crossed the bridge of his nose and through the scars over his eye, still an angry red as it had only just recently happened. Before deciding on the Cainhurst helmet, Abel was fond of the standard ashen bone mask, though that changed quickly when Murgo's wet nurse nearly bisected his skull in one fell swipe of her blade.

Learning the hard way after that, the teenaged Hunter had taken to wearing the full steel helmet, preventing himself from gaining any more unsightly scars on his face.

Abel's lips parted to show slight fangs poking out from under his upper lip, though Ozpin pretended not to notice as the silver haired teenager sipped his tea while gently setting himself down in Gehrman's wheeled chair.

Abel's companion, the Doll, was easily taller than anyone else outside of her partner within the building, standing at an even seven foot while the Iscariot stood at just over six and a half feet himself. Her style of dress reminded Ozpin of something straight out of the Victorian age long passed, though it seemed to suit her perfectly. A small comb rested in her hair, just as well taken care of as her clothing.

"So, is there any other particular reason outside of curiosity that has brought you and yours here today, Professor?" Abel questioned evenly after finishing his tea before handing his empty cup to Doll, who dutifully took it and made her way slowly to the small pot of water used to clean whatever dishes were found within the workshop.

Ozpin hummed to himself before he answered, "Well, yes, actually. After watching you fight off those dozen Ursa minor on your own and any subsequent hunts the few nights after, I originally came to ascertain if you were a threat to my students or not, but after seeing you for myself..."

The silver haired professor trailed off while drawing his gaze around the workshop slowly, taking in all the sights it afforded. "After seeing you, I have a better idea. How would you and your... Doll, like to attend Beacon to learn to be Huntsmen?"

Abel took no time in thinking over the offer before answering. "I'm sorry, but can you run that past me once more? I have no need to learn how to Hunt, as you can see if you indeed saw me fight off those... Ursa, you called them?"

Ozpin seemed to expect this before reaffirming his offer. "Trust me, there is much you can learn about the Grimm in our academy. From watching you these past few days, I can tell you are used to facing... a different type of opponent, to put it lightly. I cannot just have a stray Hunter, especially one of your caliber, hanging around so close to the school without any explanation on just why your here, surely you understand."

"And surely you understand that it was not my intention to be waking up 'so close to the school' as you say." Abel retorted, his voice slightly cooling at the mans persistence. The teenager had little patience for people tying to exert any form of authority on him, let alone this strange man who claimed to own this portion of the forest Abel currently resided in.

"Your intentions or not, this property officially belongs to Beacon Academy, and only those attending or working at Beacon are allowed to live on these grounds." Ozpin calmly responded despite the slightly hostile edge in the teenagers tone.

Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake shared a look before stepping slightly behind Glynda, slightly intimidated by the conversation currently being exchanged by the two silver haired men. The four were not sure why they were present, but they were more than sure their headmaster knew what he was doing.

Glynda looked ready to jump in but Ozpin cut her off by holding up his right hand while graciously accepting more tea from the Doll with his left.

Abel suppressed the growl and slight snarl that attempted to make its way out of his throat before forcing himself to calm down. "If I could just pick my workshop up and move it, I would. Trust me, I do not wish to be here any more than you wish for me to be here. My job is not finished, yet I find myself in this strange land under a shattered moon with no discernible way to return to Yharnam. Surely a man such as yourself can understand the position I find myself in?"

Ozpin nodded his head in agreement before shrugging his shoulders. "The way you speak, it is obvious you are far, very far, from home if your reaction to the moon is anything to go by... let alone the fact that I have never heard an accent like either of yours, nor have I heard of a kingdom of Yharnam. Going on those facts, you clearly have no where to go outside of where you find yourself now."

"Your point being what, exactly, Sir?" Abel questioned evenly after calming himself, not wanting the conversation to escalate anymore so than it already had. While the teenager had every confidence in his skill, six versus one was never a good idea even with the benefit of choosing the environment for this confrontation.

"As I stated earlier, I would like to extend a hand to the newest Hunter in this neck of the woods and request you officially attend my school, someone of your... talents, would surely be a boon for our roster." Ozpin cut to the chase, not seeing any point in beating around the bush any longer.

The silver haired Iscariot slowly crossed his hands in front of his face while he closed his eyes in thought. Leaving the workshop, which had been his home for more than a few months now if his sense of time hadn't been destroyed by the void, would be difficult to say the least. However, seeing as the school was supposed to be in close proximity, Abel made his decision.

"Only I will attend classes, Doll here is not combat oriented in the least." The teenager eventually answered, causing a small smile to cross Ozpin's face. "Nor will I wear any form of ridiculous uniform you have for your students. In turn, I will attend these classes and promise to learn all I can about these... Grimm. After school is over, I will be allowed to return here to my home. Do we have an accord?"

"That we do, good sir, that we do." Ozpin replied, accepting his third and final cup of exquisite tea from the Doll before beconning his five companions to follow him. Abel rose from his chair and with a wave of his hand, the enchantment keeping the gate sealed broke, allowing the six to leave his property unabated. "I will return in three days to retrieve you and your belongings, Mister Iscariot, please be ready by that morning."

"As you wish... Headmaster." Abel replied evenly, giving the six one final look before shutting the gate and slowly making his way back up the steps leading to the workshop.

Ozpin seemed to gain a bit of pep in his step as he turned towards where their Bullhead was parked, humming a slightly jaunty tune under his breath as they left the gated area. Ruby looked more confused than anything, Yang and Weiss were sharing a look while Blake looked even more thoughtful than anyone had ever seen her.

"Don't say a word, Glynda... we will discuss this in my office." Ozpin cut her off before she could start her objections, the woman easily taking his hint. 'Not in front of the children.'

"Of course, Headmaster." Glynda replied dutifully while ushering the students back onto the Bullhead before strapping herself in, the other five of her companions following her example.

Soon, the six were making their way back to school, each lost in their own thoughts.

"He has eyes like yours, Blake." Weiss finally spoke up, breaking the silence between the four students.

"Your wrong about that, Weiss... He is what I could have become." Blake answered evenly, burying her nose back into the book she brought with her, Ninja's of Love volume 2 if the title was to go by. The white haired teenager fought back the sneer threatening to cross her face after catching the title of the book, obviously not a fan of the smut.

"Why do you think they brought us along?" Yang eventually questioned after looking back at the strangely unnerving building the silver haired teen resided in, trying not to think about the haunting look in those crimson eyes.

"Isn't it obvious? Professor Ozpin wanted him to 'connect' with us. We were obviously the first human beings Abel has seen in some time outside of that strange...woman, at least within his age group." Weiss answered, having seen how the silver haired teenager carried himself and eyed the four of them with somewhat longing eyes.

Ruby was the only one who remained silent, unable to get the strange silver haired teenager from her mind. 'Why do I have the feeling I am going to be seeing more of him?'

The young Rose couldn't shake the feeling for the rest of the night.


	2. Proving ones worth

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **Chapter 2, finding ones worth**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to RWBY nor Bloodborne. I will never claim to do so.**

 **Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to read this story, it really warms my blackened heart!**

 **[UPSM]**

"Have you lost your mind, Ozpin? That... man, is clearly a trained killer. A skilled, trained killer who came this close," Glynda paused her scolding to hold her fingers just an inch apart, "From blowing us to kingdom come with his HAND CANNON."

Ozpin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose after removing his small spectacles that usually rested on the tip of his nose. "I am aware of how trained this young man is, I've watched him kill countless Ursa in the hunt of food these last few nights. Surely you noticed how weary he had become over the span of three days, with how much he works himself I'm surprised he hasn't started fainting from hunger by now."

"That is beside the point. He obviously grew up outside of civilization, shouldn't he know where to find wild game outside of Grimm?" Glenda questioned, giving the silver haired man a stern look while tapping away at her scroll without breaking her gaze.

"He is not from this world, could you not tell from his reaction to the moon?" Ozpin eventually answered, causing Glenda to give pause in her typing.

"And how, pray tell, have you come to this... conclusion?" The Goodwitch questioned, her anger temporarily forgotten.

"I have done much work around the world, within all four kingdoms and in every section of the wild, yet I have never heard an accent like his, nor have I heard of a city named Yharnam. Then there was the fact that a few of his weapons still used gunpowder for launching projectiles, something that hasn't been done since the advent of dust." Ozpin explained while bringing up a map of the world while running the name Yharnam through the search engines.

Despite his efforts, his quick search for the city brought up a blank, causing Glynda to take a small step away from the screen. "He was being completely honest when he spoke, but something about him did not sit right with me..."

"It was as if we were prey, and he was a predator. I felt much the same." Glynda eventually answered while staring at the map and the lack of results from the search. "Are you sure this is wise? Who is to say he won't kill us, or worse any students?"

Ozpin shrugged his shoulders before turning his head and looking out to the shattered moon, "Call it a gut feeling."

Glynda scoffed but eventually nodded her head, deciding to trust Ozpin's judgment. "If he does snap, if ANYTHING happens, it will be on you, Ozpin."

"I am well aware of the consequences, Glynda, do you honestly think so little of me?"

"Sometimes, I don't know what to think about you..."

[UPSM]

Abel grumbled to himself under his breath as he once again stalked the woods he found himself in, this time his destination being the waterfall nearby his location. With a small bar of what he hoped was soap and a clean bit of cloth, the silver haired teenager hoped that he could bathe and be left in peace with his thoughts for the next few moments, thus he left the Doll back at the workshop instead of bringing her along.

While she had no need to bathe, there were certain mineral oils that she needed to maintain her appearance now that she existed outside of the dream for the first time, thus requiring her privacy while Abel required his own.

Reaching his destination just moments after he lost himself in his thoughts, Abel proceeded to strip himself of his armor, leaving his body bare in the pale moonlight that filtered through the tree tops. Scars crisscrossed his back and torso from the many different encounters with Beasts, Kin, Great Ones and multiple different hunters throughout his time in Yharnam, yet he couldn't find himself to care much for the marred flesh.

Most men from the Hinterlands would have been proud of having such a wide variety of bragging right worthy scars, though Abel only saw them as a weakness. Each and every slash, gouge, bullet-wound and burn told an individual story, but to the Iscariot, they only spoke of his weakness. Of his mortality.

Something he had yet to come to grips with, he was sure. Waking up after being undying for the last few months without the link to the Dream was discerning, extremely so. Now, he couldn't afford little mistakes like he had made in the past that ended up with him having his head ripped from his shoulders or crushed.

He couldn't just pop back up after something happened to him now, if the wound was debilitating enough. The strange Caryll Runes running up the length of both arms and his torso broke him from his reverie, if only for a moment. Ever since he woke up, these runes had become more and more bold as time went on as did the eldritch thoughts writhing around in his skull.

The Doll claimed she had no idea what they represented, but he was more than sure he saw recognition in her eyes when she first laid eyes on the inhumane, written word of an unspeakable language.

Abel had his own suspicions on the runes and their meaning, though he chose to ignore them for the time being. Removing the yellowed bone from his neck, he gently set the relic from Gehrman's first apprentice within his pile of armored robes and proceeded into the large basin of water.

After nearly an hour of enjoying the cold water raining down on his head, Abel proceeded out of the water to dry and redress himself, though the crimson glow on the waters edge caused him to pause. Turning his attention to his reflection in the water, the silver haired teenager watched as yet another rune carved itself into his flesh before the crimson glow faded to black.

'That is the Hunter Rune... why would it be etched between my shoulder blades?' Abel questioned himself before turning his attention downwards, just below the newest addition to his runes. The Vileblood sigil lay proudly beneath the Hunter of Hunter rune, though it seemed to be older than the Hunter of Hunters rune.

Deciding to question the doll more thoroughly later, Abel proceeded to dry and dress himself without further adieu, despite his desire to stare into the strange Caryll Runes now etching themselves into his flesh without so much as an explanation.

"Just what is happening to me?" He asked no one in particular after feeling the hunter rune activate itself, restoring his energy to him quicker than he thought possible, even when the rune was firmly etched into the folds of his mind.

[UPSM]

The three days had come and gone, and before Abel knew it, he was slowly making his way towards the massive, metal monster that transported the 'Hunters of Beacon' within its bowels.

On his back was the shaft to his scythe while the blade itself hung deftly from his hips through his custom sheath while his Evelyn was firmly placed within its holster. More than twenty blood vials were placed within the confines of the large leather case on his lower back, though they nary made a noise as he walked calmly towards his next destination.

The Doll walked calmly beside him, a small smile on her face as she thought about seeing the world the many different hunters that visited her in the dream spoke so much about, but there was an emotion she was not familiar with brewing at the surface.

"Good Hunter, why does it feel as if there are... living creatures inside of my stomach area?" The Doll eventually questioned, her smooth voice easily breaking the silence between the two as they walked as if heading towards a funeral.

"That would be either nervousness, or anxiety, or both. Have you never felt that before?" Abel questioned, turning his gaze to the rather tall, and beautiful, creature walking beside him. Despite being the only comfort he had in this waking world, Abel could hardly say he knew what to think about the living doll. On one hand, he was eternally grateful for her and all she had done for him, but at the same time... she unnerved him more than he cared to admit. Something about her eyes and the way she looked at him since awakening from the dream had set him on edge.

Something was more... human about the Doll, and he did not know what to make of it. Deciding to dwell on it later, as he did most of his problems, Abel calmly stepped into the clearing where the foul metal beast waited patiently for him.

Within her own pack of supplies, their entire stash of tea leaves laid as well as the mineral oils needed to take care of her harder than porcelain skin, though Abel was unconcerned with such matters after laying eyes once more on the group of four teenagers from before.

Going with the same respectful bow he gave them the first time, Abel slowly rose from his greeting and moved forward with purpose. "Greetings, Madams. It seems my companion and I shall be in your care for the time being. Do treat us well, please."

"Ah, no need to be so formal about it!" Ruby tried to wave off the words of the teenager, but he was having none of it.

"Nonsense, you have obviously taken time out of your busy schedules to transport me to your Academy, thus requiring my to show appreciation when you could have just sent complete strangers to retrieve me. 'Tis the little things that count." Abel responded, his tone letting them know he was having none of their downplaying.

"Well, when you put it like that..." The female scythe wielder eventually replied, a small blush dusting her face, "Wanna join us on the Bullhead, then we can be underway?"

Abel nodded resolutely and steeled himself to walk deep within the strange metal creature, his body expression enough to tell the teens that he didn't quite trust the noisy contraption. "Just what form of beast is this, might I ask? I've never seen such a creature in my life." Abel eventually questioned after making his way up the ramp, the Doll following obediently behind the closest thing she had to a Master now that Gehrman had departed from the waking and dreaming world to take his final rest.

"Beast? This is a machine... surely you aren't so backwoods that you don't even know what that is?" Weiss questioned, her tone slightly incredulous at the questions being raised by the silver haired teenager.

"I... am not quite sure what you mean by that, but I assure you I have no idea what type of creature this is. Are you going to mock me, or answer the question, miss?" Abel evenly responded, though his tone was slightly more cold than before.

Weiss, realizing her slip up, back tracked quickly while holding her hands up to diffuse the situation before it could get ugly. "I apologize, it just surprises me that you don't even know what a Bullhead is. Do you at least know what machines are?" The white haired heiress of the Schnee Dust Company questioned after thinking on how to proceed.

Abel shook his head in the positive before shrugging his shoulders lightly. "I know what elevators and the likes are, but machinery from where I am from stopped as far as I can tell if it did not involve killing beasts and providing temporary transport upwards and downwards." Abel responded, his tone lessening back into its slight monotone.

Weiss let lose a sigh she didn't know she was holding before continuing her explanation. "Well this is a form of transport machinery, using large engines powered by dust to traverse distances that would usually take days in just minutes, depending on the acceleration of the machine and the fuel source used."

Understanding dawned on Abel before he thanked her for her explanation, having eased his mind on stepping forth into the bowels of the strange machine now that he knew that it wasn't a living creature out to devour him.

The Doll looked just as relieved, if for a different reason. She had come to like the four huntresses in their very short encounter as they displayed an innocence only seen in those who have yet to shed the blood of another, though the black haired female with a bow in her hair smelled faintly of blood, oil and fire, despite how much she attempted to cover up the lingering scent with a faint perfume.

Dealing with blood for countless years in the void had taught all the Doll needed to know about its scent and how to spill it in the most vicious of ways, though she was physically weaker than needed to make use of any of her accrued knowledge.

Yang, the blond that Abel seemed the most weary about slinked up from behind and wrapped one of her arms around Abel's shoulder while shooting him a disarming grin, having felt him stiffen heavily under her unfamiliar touch.

The feeling of something pointy being withdrawn from her lower back caused her to look behind her, only to see Abel slowly putting away the dagger that was directly pointed at her kidney. "Sorry, a force of habit. Please don't sneak up on my, I might not catch myself before retaliating next time." Abel finally answered awkwardly, having felt bad for drawing a weapon on the promiscuous teenager for simply wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

Yang seemed to wave off the apology without a care, though she was sweating on the inside on just how close she was to losing her life over a misunderstanding.

"I'm sorry, you just looked like you could use a hug, ya know?" The blond responded with a chipper tone, causing Abel to nod his head slowly.

"I suppose it must look that way from the outside looking in."

Not sure what to make of that sentence, Yang refused to remove her arm from his shoulder as the four females guided him and his extremely tall companion to the areas they would be sitting in for the return trip to Beacon.

"You are in for a treat if this is your first time flying, Abel!" Ruby gushed, practically jumping up and down in her seat, "It's an awesome experience once you get over that little bit of fear!"

"...What does 'Awesome' mean, exactly?" Abel eventually questioned, turning his head to face the presumed team leader for the four females.

"...Are you being serious right now? It means its cool."

"And in what context is this trip going to be cold? It feels rather warm in here to me..." Abel trailed off, seeing the expression on all three of their faces.

"Did you live under a rock most of your life?" Weiss finally asked, seeing as she was the one with the least tact. Removing his helmet, Abel started the blue eyed, white haired rapier wielder directly in her eyes when he spoke.

"As enlightening as our conversation has been, truly, I would much appreciate it if you stopped with your thinly veiled insults, they are trying my patience already."

Weiss opened her mouth to hotly retort before snapping it shut upon seeing the look her three teammates were giving her. "I apologize, I just find it hard to believe you don't know what a Bullhead is, let alone what the word 'Awesome' means. Just where DID you come from, if I might ask?"

"Yharnam, a city far beyond the borders of anything you have heard I am sure, but before that I grew up in the wilderness, looking after myself since I was old enough to hunt my own game." Abel eventually relented, seeing the pleading look being sent his way by not just one cute girl, if he was honest with himself, but four.

Blake remained silent throughout the entire confrontation, though she was paying far more attention to the silver haired new comer than she let on. Peaking every once and a while from the pages of her favorite novel, Blake was trying her hardest to place the mans speech patterns, his accent and his choice of armor though she could honestly say, despite her years of working with the white fang, she had yet to come across someone her age quite as imposing as the crimson eyed, silver haired Hunter before her. His weapon designs, despite being effective for Grimm, were more designed for fleshy opponents, something that let her know this person before her hunted down his fellow man just as easily as he hunted Grimm and whatever other foul beast he had come across in his travels.

That thought was alone enough to send chills up her spine, but a voice in the back of her head was telling her to trust him, that he would not harm them unless first provoked. That thought seemed to cause her to release the tension being held in her shoulders while she relaxed even further into her seat, seemingly ignoring the world around her.

"You didn't have your mother or father to look after you?" Yang gasped, not being able to imagine what it would have been like for her and her little sister Ruby had their father not taken care of them after both of their mothers passed away rather suddenly.

"No, it was just myself and my weapon. I need nothing else, though I have come to find that companionship trounces solitude every time." Abel stated with a small smile making its way to his face, turning to look at the Doll resting by his side. The Doll, as if seeing his sidewards glance, shot him a heart warming smile before turning her attention back to the landscape below as the Bullhead finally began lift off.

The sudden sense of vertigo came and went within the blink of an eye for Abel, who was more than sure that the lack of motion sickness could be chalked up to one of the runes functions now etched onto his skin against his better wishes and desire.

"I am... I am sorry to hear that." Weiss answered after a few moments of silence, each of the girls looking downtrodden at the declaration.

"It has been that way since my birth, there is no need for you to apologize. It isn't as if you were the cause of my woes, after all." Abel responded in kind, causing the white haired teenager to give the crimson eyed Iscariot a small smile in return.

The rest of the rather short trip to Beacon was spent with the members of Team RWBY grilling Abel on as much of his past as he was willing to part with, which was surprisingly enough a large amount despite none of the girls having known Abel in the slightest.

"The way you carry yourself... you are running from your past, aren't you?" Blake finally questions, looking up from her book to latch her golden eyes unto his crimson orbs.

Abel looked determined to not answer the question, but the softened look Blake sent him soon after showed that his silence answered his question better than a verbal response ever could have.

"I am sorry for asking... You just remind me of myself." The Belladonna spoke up before turning her attention back to her book, or as much attention as she could give the smut after seeing the heart wrenching emotions present just beneath those twin pools of bloody red.

The Iscariot shrugged his shoulders almost minutely before turning his attention to the rapidly passing landscape below him, a look of longing crossing his face as he watched the last sights of the Hunters Workshop disappear over the horizon.

"You mentioned a substance called Dust earlier... are you perhaps talking about bone marrow ash?" Abel inquired after an awkward silence dawned between the six of them, though Yang seemed to not care in the slightest.

Weiss, once more, had a look of disbelief on her face before she shook her head in the negative. "Bone marrow ash," The Schnee heiress began, "Sounds absolutely disgusting. Dust is a substance mined from the earth, capable of channeling the elements themselves such as fire, lightning, earth and more."

Abel cocked an eyebrow at the explination before removing a small dollop of powder from the leather pouch just above his vial case, showing it to the white haired female. "This is Bone marrow ash, a hyper-propellent used to launch projectiles much, much faster than gunpowder is capable of." Abel explained before removing a few of his quicksilver bullets from their resting places on the leather bandoleer on his hip.

"These bullets are made of solidified quicksilver and imbued with my blood, capable of shredding anything and everything I have come across to date. Do you mean to tell me you use neither?"

Weiss once again shook her head in the negative before removing her personal weapon from its holster. "This is Myrtenaster, my personal weapon. It uses these dust chambers here," She paused her explanation to point out the rotating chambers located below the blade of her weapon, "To make use of whichever element I find myself in need of."

"How queer..." Abel trailed off, analyzing the different colored crystaline dust vials as best as he could. "And what form of ammunition is common in these parts?"

Ruby, finally seeing her time to be in the spotlight quickly ejected her magazine from its resting place in her scythe before presenting the many bullets inside of it to the Iscariot. "These are custom rounds made for my weapon, Crescent Rose, each being much larger than standard sniper rounds while also having trace amounts of fire dust to increase their velocity!"

Abel looked incredibly impressed with the bullets presented to him, the mere size comparison leading to the quicksilver bullets easily being outstripped by the custom sniper rounds. "Is your scythe also a gun?"

Ruby nodded proudly before pointing to the small trigger present where she would normally hold the weapon. "Sure is!"

Abel attempted to wipe the flabbergasted look off of his face but failed spectacularly. "That is very impressive, truly! Such an ingenuitive piece of weaponry indeed!"

Ruby turned away to hide her small blush, causing Yang to tease her sister relentlessly. "Aww, wittle wuby has a cwushhh!"

A quick toss of one of her shoes shut Yang up quickly enough, but not fast enough for the rest of Team RWBY to get a good laugh at their leaders expense. The silver haired teenager tilted his head to the side in confusion but decided not to question the most recent development, if only to spare himself more embarrassment in seeming like a backwoods barbarian as Weiss called him earlier.

"These four are very strange." Abel murmured quietly to the Doll, who nodded her head in agreement.

"Indeed."

 **[UPSM]**

"Greetings, and welcome to my Academy!" Ozpin greeted, having met the group of six when the Bullhead finally landed. Abel tried not to gawp at the scenery around him, though he failed just as spectacularly as earlier.

"Humanity has come a long way since the last time I step foot in civilization, that much is certain." Abel commented quietly to himself, unaware of the heightened sense of hearing Team RWBY's Faunus had.

Blakes' ears twitched at the comment, though she kept her musing to herself and filed the information away for later study. 'You said earlier that you came from a city called Yharnam...'

"Thank you kindly for having me, Professor. This is a wondrous Academy if the architecture is anything to go by." Abel responded in kind, giving the man a small bow of respect before turning his head left and right to get a good look at the people mulling about. Most, if not all, of the students were completely disarmed, though one or two of the older humans still had theirs hanging proudly from their frames.

The only person that gave Abel pause was the small brown haired girl walking about with three of her peers. Normally, such a common shade of brown wouldn't draw Abel's eyes as anything unique, but it was what rested upon her skull that gave him pause.

"Does... does that little girl have Rabbit ears upon her head?" Abel questioned, incredulity dripping from his voice. Never before had he seen a human being with animal parts before, outside of those consumed with the ashen blood that had swept across Loran and Yharnam.

"She does... will that be a problem, Mister Iscariot?" Ozpin finally answered after dismissing the rest of Team RWBY and congratulating them on a mission well accomplished. Before their departure, Blake was once again able to pick up on the last bit Abel said, causing a small from to appear on her face.

"Of course not, but is... that normal? Human's do not have such... appendages in Yharnam." The Iscariot relented, staring at the back of the small girls head as she disappeared into the school proper with what he assumed where her team mates.

"You don't have Faunus where you come from?" Ozpin asked with a raised brow, this time his voice incredulous instead of Abel's.

"No, we only have Humans... you mean to tell me she isn't Human?"

"Well, the only difference between Human's and Faunus are their additional animal features, but no." Ozpin relented while leading the silver haired teenager towards the school proper and eventually to his office to finish the teens registration for Beacon.

"...What a truly strange place I have found myself in, wouldn't you say, Doll?" Abel finally muttered out, gaining the attention of the silent being walking dutifully beside him.

"If something such as I can live and bleed, truly, then how strange could they be?" The Doll answered evenly, turning her pale gaze back to the only remaining Hunter of the Nightmare after ripping it from the halls around her.

"...Tis a good point. Forgive my ignorance on such matters, Professor." Abel responded to the Doll while making sure that Ozpin knew that such trivialities won't interfere with his interactions with the students around him.

Ozpin cracked a small grin while ushering the two into his office after sending for Glynda, descreetely of course, "It does not matter to me in the slightest, though it does speak well of your character for not holding a prejudice."

Abel shrugged his shoulders before nodding to his only remaining reminder of the Nightmare he once lived through. "She raised a valid point earlier. If she could indeed exist, and I treat her with the respect she deserves, why should having additional ears bother me?"

"Many here in Remnant do not feel the same, especially those of the higher class." Ozpin pointed out while making his way to his desk, pouring himself a fresh cup of tea from the steaming kettle not far from his hand. "Would you like a cup?"

"No, thank you though." Abel politely declined before responding to Ozpin's previous statement. "Those of the higher class do not look upon the Faunus well, I take it?"

A frown, a deep one at that, formed on Ozpin's face as he looked downwards before shaking his head morosely. "No, most Human's treat Faunus like they are worse than the dirt they all walk on. A shame, a true shame."

The silver haired Iscariot scoffed before shaking his head in a negative fashion as well. "Stupid creatures indeed, Humans are. Have those of 'Higher Class' never heard the phrase Noblesse Oblige?"

Ozpin allowed the two words to roll over his tongue before shaking his head in the negative. "That does not ring any bells. What does it mean?"

"Do as Nobles do. Those with innate privilege must act accordingly to their station, through chivalry and good deeds. If you are to claim Nobility, you must first act like Nobility, least you be nothing better than wealthy rabble." Abel stated, a slightly pompous tone taking over his voice, "Though that is what Queen Annalise would say in such a situation." He trailed off, his voice taking a melancholic tone towards the end.

"Those are incredibly wise words to live by. Were you close to this Queen Annalise you mentioned?" Ozpin questioned, wanting to learn more about the enigmatic teen before him.

Abel nodded his head morosely, trying not to think on his situation now that he found himself in this strange world. "Indeed I was, I was her only remaining faithful knight when the Nightmare finally came to an end. Our people befell a genocide, led by a madman and his horde of lunatics from the 'Healing Church'."

Ozpin filed the information away for later when there was a gentle rapping at his office door. After waiting two moments, the door opened to reveal Glynda Goodwitch, her ridding crop still present in her rather tight grip.

Abel nodded his head towards the additional being now entering the room, showing the mild-mannered woman as much respect as he could, seeing as her station was above his now that he was a 'student' at this school. Or, he assumed as much.

Glynda paused at the nod in her direction before she returned with one in kind, turning her attention back to the reason for her 'surprise' visit. "Good morning, Mister Iscariot. How was your trip?"

"As well as one could expect, I suppose." Abel responded, eying the rather large amount of paperwork held close to her bosom. "Am I to assume that I have... paperwork I must complete?"

A smirk crossed Ozpin's face before he nodded in the affirmative. "That would be correct, Abel. Tell me... just where was this Yharnam located? I can't seem to find it on any known map, nor is it one of the outter cities scattered throughout the wild..."

Abel tensed his shoulders before sending a look towards the Doll, who shrugged her dainty shoulders minutely.

"From what I have seen so far... I do not believe I am in the correct world, so to speak." Abel finally relented, his posture denoting that he was already in 'fight or flight' mode, though Ozpin tried to diffuse the tense situation.

"And what makes you think that?" Ozpin questioned with a curious tone, noting that Glynda looked smug for whatever reason.

"The moon. Simply put, it was not destroyed where I am from, nor was it as bright." Abel noted before reaching into his nap sack placed gently at his feet. After digging around and curing under his breath in more than one language, he finally withdrew a notebook. Holding it reverently, he almost looked torn before he finally handed it over to Ozpin, who took it with gentle hands after seeing how reverently Abel held the book.

"Bound within those pages is my story, from start to finish. I have... photographs to corroborate my word. While we were very far behind when it came to technology, Yharnam was technologically advanced enough to have created a device that could capture still images after a few minutes of preperation, though the blinding flash was a dead give-away for your position..." Abel trailed off, allowing the man to make his own assumptions and decisions after skimming the contents of his personal journal.

The first image was the still form of the Doll resting gently besides the steps leading up into the Hunters Workshop with the page to its right filled out completely with articulate lettering, a testament to Abel's prowess with a quill.

 **'After making my way to the city of Yharnam, in search of the Paleblood needed to cure my sickness, I came across the most curious beast of a creature after undergoing the procedure. The Blood Minister from before had been devoured almost whole by the creature, who was still gnawing on the man's skull before I drew its attention. Despite having just undergone a transfusion, I gave the creature my best effort, though it was for naught.**

 **Waking up in this endless white void was certainly not what I expected when I died. Maybe someone here can explain my situation a bit better. There was a note beside by bedside when I awoke, though I admit to paying it little attention when the sound of the beast devouring my Minister reached my ears.**

" ** _Seek Paleblood to Transcend the Hunt_ ". '**

Turning the page, Ozpin came across the image of Abel, dressed in Victorian styled clothing much like the Doll, standing next to an elderly man in his wheelchair. A faint smile was present on Abel's face, but the elderly man looked as if he had been sucking on lemons for days.

 **'Gehrman, the man in the wheelchair, claims this place to be a dream. Certainly he jests, but in poor taste in my opinion. My illness seems to have been completely cured, but now I must complete a contract of sorts to free myself from this 'Dream'. Personally, I think the man is a few coins shy of a stone, especially so thanks to his lewd comments, but I shall refrain from saying such things to his face. He seems nice, for a mental patient. After wandering the workshop, I have found a note that seems to be directed to me...**

 _" _ **To escape this dreadful Hunter's Dream, halt the source of the spreading scourge of beasts, lest the night carry on forever."'**__

The third page showed the image of many cathedral styled buildings rising in the distance with a victorious looking Abel standing over a rather large pile of people, blood pouring out across the ground. A bladed cane was present in his right hand while an ancient looking flintlock pistol rested in his left.

 **'If this is the sort of welcome I can expect from the rest of the Yharnamites, I can already say I loath this city. Upon waking up in the clinic once more, this time armed, I faced the same beast from before and slew it before it could reciprocate the same. Stepping out of the clinic seemed to be a good idea at the time, at least until more than a dozen armed... people beset after me with their make-shift weapons. Never before have I been more thankful for having a weapon in my hands. I showed them no mercy, because they surely did not show me any.'**

"You... killed them all?" Ozpin questioned, looking up with slight disgust evident on his face. Abel shrugged his shoulders before responding to the off-handed question. "You seem to be under the impression that they were human in the least. While I am cold hearted in every sense of the word, I would not take the lives of those not deserving of it. Each and every one of those individuals succumbed to the illness that plagued Yharnam, turning them into little more than beasts, quite literally."

Ozpin nodded his head slightly and turned the page once more, resting his eyes upon the next image in Abel's journal. A massive beast, easily as large as any Alpha Grimm, laid still at Abel's feet, who now bore the three large gashes over his left eye with an even more victorious look on his face than before.

 **'When I heard the whispers of Yharnam being cursed, I merely thought them as jealous rumors... something tells me the rumors have much truth to them. Two more of the wolf-human creatures stood in my path before I slew them like their predecessor at Iosefka's clinic, bless that woman, as well as another unsightly man, a giant wielding an upheavaled brick and ravens that bark like dogs. I died thrice to this damned creature before finally trouncing it soundly. Maybe Gehrman was right, maybe this all really is a bad dream...'**

The silver haired professor rose his brow at the admittance of dying three times, looking to Abel for confirmation. "What is it?" Abel questioned, noticing the strange look being sent to him by Ozpin, once again.

"It says here you... died, three different times to this same creature. How does something like that happen?" The cane wielder questioned, his tone more disbelieving than anything Abel has heard from the man to date.

"When you enter the Paleblood Contract, you become undying until the scourge of the beasts is purged." The Doll spoke up, having rested quietly in the rather comfortable chair across from Ozpin's desk once offered to her.

"And what is this Paleblood I have heard you mention?" Glynda questioned, for once speaking up after her initial greeting. Abel looked conflicted on how to answer, though he was saved by the Doll coming to his rescue like a knightess in porcelain armor.

"When one accepts Pale Blood into their veins, they agree to seek out and purge the beastly scourge that has descended upon Yharnam thanks to the Church and their ilk. The Pale Blood connects them to the Hunters Workshop, which was once afloat in and endless white void." The porcelain woman with white blood spoke, her accent and manner of speech just as peaceful as always, though you could hear a hint of sadness in her soothing voice.

"That... makes no sense, whatsoever." Glynda spoke, tapping her riding crop gently across her right thigh, denoting her impatience.

"To you, it might not, but 'twas the life we lived." The doll acquiesced, her pale eyes turning to stare at the buxom combat teacher. "Do not belittle us with your naivety on the subject, it is as if a slap upon the face to us."

'That was the meanest thing the Doll has ever said, I am sure of it.' Abel thought to himself humorously while watching Ozpin slowly flip through the journal, drinking deeply from each page as if it were the draught of life itself.

The only sign of discomfort on the mans face was when he cringed every now and again, most likely from his first sights upon the Old Ones and their many deformed offspring, though Abel could think of a few larger enemies within the Labyrinth beneath Yharnam that could bring about such expressions.

After hearing the man mutter. 'but why is it naked... its wearing boots!' under his breath, Abel let loose a deep chuckle, causing the man to look up from the journal of Abel's time in the nightmare.

"I thought much the same thing when I faced that foul creature the first time. You would not believe how fast that... _**thing**_ could roll." Abel noted, humor clearly ringing through his deep voice. Ozpin cracked a small smile, imagining the pale, gray skinned freak of nature rolling like a bolder towards an unsuspecting crypt diver.

"I think I have seen enough. I believe you, completely. There is no way to forge pictures of this quality, especially so considering that we have not used the same time of still pictographs in more than a century." Ozpin admitted, leaning back in his chair while grabbing up his forgotten about tea. "Just how have you remained sane, despite all of... this?"

Abel paused in thought before shrugging his shoulders, another small smile playing on his lips. "When fighting monsters, one must take care lest you become a monster thyself; For when you gaze upon the Abyss, the Abyss gazes back unto you."

"That does not put my mind at rest, not in the slightest." Ozpin admitted before gently shutting the Journal of the Nightmare before handing it back to its writer, who looked thankful to have such a thing back in his possession.

"Be as that may, we have paperwork to finish... do we not?"

 **[UPSM]**

"Today, we will be having a new student joining us. Please, come in and introduce yourself." Glynda called out once the bell for class began, causing a few murmurs to break out amongst the students.

'A new student, this late in the term?'

'He must have family in the higher ups if they are allowing such a late starter...'

'Maybe it's a cute girl!'

'Shut up, Rick, that's all you think about! Your going to get yourself killed one day!'

The sound of Glynda Goodwitch clearing her throat silenced the class soon after before the door to the classroom opened rather suddenly. Without waiting for any sort of cue, Abel strode into the room and onto the stage that Glynda was standing on, his Cainhurst helmet missing from his usual ensemble at the behest of Ozpin, who stated that wearing his helmet should only be reserved for combat situations while he was a student at the school.

"My name is Abel Iscariot, a pleasure to meet you all." The silver haired teen greeted smoothly, his voice a rich baritone that carried easily over the silence auditorium.

Standing a good head taller than Glynda, Abel proved to be an imposing figure to those who looked upon his visage. The black shawl and cloak covering his back was tattered, though it seemed to add a bit of flair to his clothing instead of detracting from it.

Silverish mesh decorated his chest and arms, running underneath the heavier bone ash plating created by the Keepers of the Old Lords. Four leather belts crossed his hips, keeping most of his weapon pouches firmly in place while strips of mesh and armored plating made up the skirting falling just down to his knees. From beneath the mesh skirting, many different leathery strips that looked as if they were plucked from a nevermore hung, barely covering the wickedly pointed silver greaves he wore.

Silver hair rested upon his head the same shade as the moon while his skin was paler than even Ruby Rose, thus making his crimson scars stick out even further than before.

With a proper bow of respect, Abel took Glynda's cue and left the stage, proceeding to set himself down towards the back of the class with his back to the wall. Sparing a sidewards glance at Team RWBY, Abel nodded to the quartet during his brief walk to the back, each of which responded in kind though Ruby and Yang far more enthusiastically than Blake or Weiss.

During his brief introduction, and even during his walk, Blake was barely able to make out the two small fangs poking out from his upper lip, causing her to blink and narrow her eyes once she was sure he wasn't looking. 'Is he a Faunus of some sort? He doesn't even smell like one, only blood...'

More whispers had broken out after Abel introduced himself, though he seemed to pay them no mind, at least to the untrained eye. Glynda could tell he was taking his peers reactions to his appearance as well as one could when they have had to kill every person they have grown close to through his time in the nightmare.

"Today, class, we will be doing something a little different. Abel, here, comes from a far away kingdom that has yet to discover the usage of Dust and Aura, instead using materials that mimic their function closely. Despite that, this young man has proven himself the... best Hunter within his kingdom, and was sent here to Beacon to train further in the ways of huntsmanship. Would any of you be kind enough to step forward for a small spar, not only for me to evaluate your progress, but to show us where Mister Iscariot stands?"

An arrogant, brown haired brute of a teen was the first to raise his hands, enthusiastically volunteering himself against the new comer. Abel eyed him wearily before shrugging his shoulders at the look Glynda sent his way. The silver haired teenager rose from his temporary seat at the back and strode once more towards the center of the room for the second time within just a few minutes, though he didn't seem to mind the wasted trip.

"The rules of confrontation?" Abel questioned when he finally came to a halt, just five feet from where the brute of a teen stood.

Glynda hummed to herself under her breath before stating the obvious. "No killing blows, and stop when I say stop. Easy enough?"

Abel shrugged his shoulders demurely before drawing the Burial Blade from his hip, having refused to part with any of his weaponry when offered the usage of a 'rocket-propelled locker' by Ozpin earlier that day. The shaft to the wicked blade rested calmly upon his back once more, the teenager having taken it and his vial case off to sit both in the classroom and in Ozpin's office. "Easy enough. Are we able to use any... extra skills we might have acquired?" The teenager questioned while eying the massive mace wielded by the brown haired teenager before him.

Glynda nodded her head before stepping back to start the match. "Cardin Winchester versus Abel Iscariot, are you two ready? Begin."

Abel wasted no time with fighting banter like the brute before him was attempting to do, instead launching himself forward at a speed that would have even surprised Gehrman should he have lived to see it. Despite being at only half the speed he was capable of running and attacking at, Abel proved it to be more than enough when he was able to move completely within Cardin's guard and release a devastating headbutt that left his new classmate clutching at his now bloodied nose.

Following the attack up with a quick slug to the face with a good left hook, Abel ghosted around the mighty swing released by Cardin after hefting his mace to his shoulder and using his body as a fulcrum point to put more momentum behind the serrated weapon. Seeing that his first blow missed by a long shot, Cardin twisted his hips and threw his entire body weight behind the second blow, threatening to crush Abel's face in should it connect.

The mace seemed to move in slow motion as Abel casually brushed the blow aside as if swatting away a fly before delivering a forward kick directly into Cardin's stomach, almost causing the brown haired teenager to slump in on himself. Twisting on his heel, Abel followed up his first kick by spinning his body in a complete rotation before nailing Cardin directly in the face with his extended heel, which proved enough to almost knock the boy out cold. The mere fact that he was able to raise his leg high enough to nail Cardin directly in the face, despite wearing what most would consider restrictive armor spoke testaments to the silver haired youths flexibility.

"Even elderly women dealing in promiscuous business are more of a threat to me than you are. Take a seat, troglodyte, you are out matched." Abel groused out while lowering the Burial Blade to Cardin's throat, causing the match to be called in his favor easily.

"Like Hell I will!" Cardin roared, slapping the Burial Blade away with one hand while attempting to kick Abel's feet out from beneath him. A calm step backwards took the Iscariot out of kicking range, a small smile on his face while he watched his opponent struggle to catch his breath and stand. "You got lucky, that's all!"

"Oh, so it was luck that has landed four clean blows on you already and not myself?" Abel questioned with amusement in his tone, clearly humoring the brute before him. "Than come, let luck continue this fight, for surely I can allow such a tremendous force continue to work through mine vessel of flesh and blood."

Cardin sneered at the insult before slamming his mace into the ground, causing it to alight itself in pale blue sparks. "You won't be mocking me once they are finished wiping your flesh and blood from the floor, Iscariot!"

Abel didn't bother responding to the poorly worded threat, instead beckoning the Winchester forward with his left hand while his right held the Burial Blade aloft.

The second exchange of blows proved to be better than the first as a flame lit itself in Cardin's eyes, his blows becoming heavier and even more sloppy than before as he did everything in his power to land a decisive blow against the crimson eyed Iscariot.

An overhead swing of the electrified mace was brushed aside by the Burial Blade while the second was simply side-stepped. The third blow almost broke through Abel's guard, but the teen proved skilled enough with his curved weapon to stab the blade through the openings in Cardin's mace and twist it viciously, disarming the brute teen completely and putting him at Abel's mercy.

With a great amount of dexterity on his part, Abel slammed the blade into its wooden shaft on his back and extended his weapon to its full range as a scythe instead of wielding it as a blade in one smooth motion. Placing the blade quickly behind Cardin's feet, the scythe wielder gave a gentle tug that proved enough to completely rip Cardin from his upright position, causing him to meet the paneling of the floor abruptly once more.

Instead of allowing his opponent to get up once more, Abel slowly dragged his scythe along the floor with very little force, showing that his weapon was sharp enough to completely cut through stone without any effort. He followed making this example by putting the double sided blade to Cardin's throat, this time a cold expression on his face.

"You have lost, yield before you force me to render you unconscious."

The refusal to admit defeat didn't come as Glynda quickly called the match soon after Abel finished speaking. "That will be enough, Mister Iscariot. Cardin Winchester is unable to continue, you win this match."

With a shrug, Abel removed his blade from its wooden shaft, returning it to its sword form before he gently set it within its sheathe. "As you wish, Professor."

Instead of immediately returning to his seat, Abel extended a hand to help Cardin to his feet, only for his hand to be slapped away viciously. "Get away from me, you freak! I don't need help from your kind!"

The only ones who noticed the downtrodden look on his face as he returned to his seat was Team RWBY, who had already seen his face enough to get the general gist of his facial expressions throughout their trip back to Beacon.


	3. Awaken the Dreamers

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **chapter 3, Awaken the Dreamers**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to anything dealing with either RWBY nor Bloodborne. I will never, ever, ever claim to do so. Ever.**

 **Thank you all so much for your support as I continue to write this story, it truly is an inspiration! Shouts out to Raxychaz and 4everfictional for giving me the confidence needed to try my hand at yet another story and driving me to commit this act of... er... what I mean to say is thanks, you two!**

 **Now,**

 **Fear the Old Blood!**

 **[UPSM]**

The rest of Glynda's class passed in a blur to the silver haired teenager, who spent the rest of his time eying those around him and sizing them up to the best of his abilities. Having seen the weapons of Team RWBY told him what he needed to know of their skill set, though the rest of the students around him remained a mystery, something he was mighty uncomfortable about.

Only four others stood out as ones to keep an eye out for, being a blond haired man with white chest plates and shoulder guards, a chesty redhead also wearing heavy armor without being too restricting, an orange haired girl with an overly excited expression on her face and a rather slim male figure with blackish hair with pink highlights.

'Why... does he have pink hair and eyes?' Abel questioned himself, having never seen anyone with such a shade of hair color, let alone on a male. He was broken from his musings when the teacher for his current class, Glynda Goodwitch, cleared her throat once more to gain the classes attention.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" Glynda finished her final words as the bell signifying the end of class rang, causing the Iscariot to rise from his seat and make his way to the door, ignoring the many different looks of curiosity being sent his way by his newest classmates.

"Hey, Abel, wait up!" A voice called out from behind him, causing him to pause and turn only to come face to face with a much closer than comfortable Ruby and her sister Yang not far from her.

"Good job in putting that bully Cardin in his place, I've been waiting the entire year to see something like that!" The blond, buxom sister of Ruby admitted, a bright smile alight on her face.

A small smile ghosted the silver haired teenagers face before he nodded his head and responded. "I thank you for your compliment, though I do wish he had been more... accepting of his defeat."

Ruby looked ready to explode with praise but Yang held a hand up, causing the smaller female to deflate and take a calming breath. "That. Was. AWESOME! Please teach me how to do that, you were faster than even I am!"

Abel seemed to hum to himself before nodding his head in acceptance at her request, though it seemed unwillingly. "I suppose I could do that, but it will not be easy, you might even hate me afterwards... are you sure that is what you want?"

"Oh, please, my Uncle Qrow put me through the ringer when teaching me, whats the worst that could happen?" Ruby responded, her voice full of confidence.

Her answer earned her a deep, chesty chuckle from the silver haired teen, though it was not mocking like one would have assumed. "So be it, little one. Do not say I didn't give you proper warning previously."

"So, where is our next destination...?" Abel finally questioned, having wandered the hallways with Team RWBY seeing as he was not acquainted to anyone else at the Academy thus far.

"That was the only class for the day, I think. We are heading to the cafeteria to get some food, would you like to tag along?" Yang questioned, pipping into the conversation outside of complimenting Abel on his thorough trouncing of Cardin earlier in class.

'Food. FINALLY.'

"Yes, I would very much love that." Abel answered hastily, a new pep in his step as he followed the four females towards their newest destination. The five continued to hold small talk on their way to the cafeteria, something Abel had come to enjoy after realizing just how lonely he had become without the Doll's presence by his side.

"So then, once the foul beast was thoroughly distracted by tying to wipe the burning liquor from its fur, I stabbed it in the face with bullets." Abel answered, drawing laughs from Yang and Ruby while Weiss looked a bit queasy at the explanation.

"Why not do that in the first place?" Weiss questioned, not understanding why Abel would waste valuable resources against such a foe.

"Revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge." Abel answered evenly enough, causing Weiss to nod her head in understanding. If she nearly lost her left arm to some form of werewolf Grimm, she would have responded in kind with a few well placed glyphs powered by fire dust.

"I like how vindictive you are, it shows character." Yang grinned before leading the five of them to the back of the line to get their lunch for the day.

"If you say so, I just thought it was appropriate at the time." Abel shrugged, his nose filled with scents he hadn't smelled in more than a year it felt like. "Do you know what they are serving this day?"

"It smells like chicken, and looks like chicken, so most likely mystery meat." Yang answered with a grin, earning a raised brow from Abel.

"Why wouldn't it be chicken. Using context clues, if it looks and sounds like a chicken... it is most likely a chicken."

"No, no, it doesn't work that way with school food, trust me." Ruby replied instead of her sister with a slight shiver at the thought, deciding to not think to hard about what she was about to devour.

"Ah... that does not set my mind at ease. Quite the contrary, actually." Abel finally requited his answer while staring down at the steaming meat on his tray as well as the vegetables loaded onto the plastic tray. "It at least SMELLS appealing... I am almost certain I've eaten worse."

Finding a place to comfortably sit the five proved to be a difficult task before the frantic waving of the orange haired, pink wearing girl from earlier drew Ruby and Blakes attention, causing the two of them to lead Abel to sit with the only other team they were proud to call comrades, as it was mutually agreed that Team CRDL was absolute scum.

"Salutations." Abel greeted the four he was eyeballing earlier outside of Team RWBY, causing them to turn their attention to him after saying hello to their fellow team.

"SALUTATIONS!" Nora, the orange haired one, shouted, causing Abel to slightly wince at the lack of volume control the young girl displayed. "That. Fight. Was. AWESOME! Though you really should have broken his legs, that would have totally made my day."

"Thank you kindly? I was trying my hardest not to maim the brute, that would have made a terrible first impression upon you all I am sure." Abel responded unsurely, looking to Ruby to see if her lack of constraint was normal.

Her male teammate with pink streaks in his hair responded before Ruby could, "Sorry about Nora, she is a bit... excitable. My name is Lie Ren, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The black haired member of Team JNPR extended his hand over the table, allowing Abel to take it gently into his gauntleted hand and shake it.

"Tis quite alright, I find it... refreshing." Abel responded, a light chuckle escaping his throat before he turned his attention to the two remaining members of Team JNPR that have yet to introduce themselves.

"My name is Pyrrha Nicos, it is good to meet you." The red head answered in a slightly chipper tone, also extending her hand to shake his own. Noticing that her grip was much, much firmer than Len's, the Iscariot had to fight back a slight grimace at her powerful handshake while applying more pressure than he did for her slightly feminine, and male, teammate.

"And you?" Abel finally questioned, turning his crimson eyes to stare at the downtrodden blond member of Team JNPR.

"Oh, I'm Jaune Arc, Knight in shinning armor!" Jaune answered with confidence, though his tone spoke much of his disappointment.

"Oh-ho, a fellow Knight indeed? Well it is a great pleasure to make all of your acquaintances, perhaps we can exchange weapons in honorable combat soon." Abel stated firmly, noticing that the Knight seemed to shy away from the words as soon as they left his mouth. "Unless you are... perhaps occupied by other things, that is..."

"No, no, its not that... I just don't think I could stand a chance against you, even in a friendly spar... you wiped the floor with Cardin, easily, but I can't even lay a hand on him..." Jaune trailed off with a sigh, looking down at his mystery meat surprise with steamed vegetables on the side.

"Nonsense. Absolute rubbish. Jaune, the only one who seems to think that way would be yourself. Your team here seems to have confidence in your ability, that surely counts as something." Abel dismissed trying to downplay his abilities, not having any of it.

"Tell you what, Jaune... Ruby here will be studying under me for a while to learn to wield a scythe like I do, how would you like to receive training in swordsmanship?"

Jaune perked up at the offer of training from someone who could wipe the floor with Cardin easily enough. "Do you mean it? Really? But I just met you, why would you offer something like that? I don't have the money to pay for extra lessons..."

"The only payment I would require is you giving this training your all. Who knows, it might just be thou hast yet to bloom into a proper warrior, or perhaps thine weapon is not suited for you, but I can easily see the talent waiting to be tapped into, just below the surface. You carry yourself much the same way I did when I first stepped foot into Yharnam." Abel replied with a bit of a harsh tone, not standing for a fellow Knight, even if he did not serve the same queen, putting himself down in such a manner.

Jaune seemed to accept the silver haired teens words before a smile broke out on his face. "Thanks, Abel... I think that is exactly what I needed to hear... though I could hardly afford to get myself another weapon..."

The Iscariot seemed to pause for a moment before looking at the leaders of both Team RWBY and Team JNPR with a critical eye. Ruby was already accustomed to wielding Abel's newest preferred type of weapon while Jaune seemed to favor having a weapon in either hand if the large amount of callouses built up on both of his hands meant anything, or a sword and shield combination that was incredibly uncommon in Yharnam.

"Hmm... I will request Professor Ozpin allowing me to return to my workshop to retrieve a few different weapons you can test out... I think I have just the thing for you." The Iscariot finally answered, causing the blond haired Knight to cheer up almost instantly.

"You promise? You aren't just yanking my leg?"

"I assure you, my hands are no where near your legs so that would be impossible." Abel stated with slight confusion in his voice, not sure what yanking his leg had to do with promising to help the teenager find a weapon that would suit him more than his current blade. "Though I do give you my word, from one Knight to another."

"It... it was a figure of speech." Jaune answered, not sure how to respond to Abels' confusion over such a common saying. "Where are you from, anyway? Professor Goodwitch only stated that you came from a Kingdom far away from society?"

"That would be correct. I grew up in the Hinterlands for the better part of my early years, though I made my way to Yharnam after hearing of their miracle cures to every disease, no matter how deadly they are." The Iscariot explained, "So Yharnam will forever be my home for giving me a new chance at living, instead of accepting what fate had in store for me."

"Wow, a miracle cure huh?" Jaune questioned, curiosity in his tone, "What sort of sickness did you have, if you don't mind me asking?" With his problems mostly forgotten, Jaune had inadvertently cheered up at his fellow Knight offering him training, thinking of how powerful he could become with the new student training him personally.

After seeing the Iscariot in action earlier, Jaune could honestly say he was very impressed with the skill of the silver haired teen, even more so due to the fact that he didn't even use his Aura to strengthen his blows if the rumors already starting were anything to go by.

Abel seemed to pause for a moment before answering slowly. "My body was rejecting itself, surprisingly enough. There was some form of deficiency within my blood, though that wouldn't explain the symptoms quite as well as I would have liked."

"Your body was... rejecting itself? Oh..." Weiss chimed in, cringing at the thought of such a thing happening to her. "That must have been horrible!"

"Well it certainly wasn't pleasant, but it could have been worse I suppose." Abel groused while digging into the 'mystery meat' and vegetables with as much dignity as he could, considering he was practically starved almost to death.

Nora soon launched into an explanation of her most recent dream, telling of how herself and Ren were faced with over dozens of Ursai, though Ren would correct her every so often until Abel caught the real gist of the dream instead of the hyperactive exaggeration being told by Nora.

"She's been having this reoccurring dream for more than a month now." Ren finally finished off for Nora, who looked to be occupied by drawing smiling faces in her... syrup covered meat?

Abel tried not to gag at the overly sweet smell wafting from the incredibly hyperactive girls plate before turning his attention to his surroundings, only to begin clenching his fist hard enough to snap the metal utensil in his hand in half as opposed to merely bending it. Hearing the metal snap, the eight others present at their lunch table turned their attention to Abel once more, who was already standing up and making his way to another lunch table across the cafeteria from them.

Following his line of sight, teams RWBY and JNPR bore witness to Cardin Winchester and his band of goons, also known as Team CRDL, picking on a small rabbit eared Faunus none of them could say they ever seen before. "Something tells me this wont end well for Cardin..." Ruby spoke, her voice containing both barely restrained glee at seeing Abel stalk after the bully once more and concern for her newest scythe wielding friend.

"No, no it will not." Blake answered evenly, looking up from her book to watch the scene unfolding before them all.

Within moments, Abel finally stood directly behind Cardin, who was none the wiser of just who stood behind him. "Oh man, they are real, you little freak!"

A laugh was shared between the scum of Team CRDL, at least until Sky Lark, the final member of the team of bullies, noticed Abels' presence. "And just what do you want, freak? Here to defend your fellow abomination?"

Abel cocked his head to the side, a wicked grin making its way across his face. "And if I am? Do you wish to try your... luck, with me as well?"

Sky snarled and rose his fist to strike, but Abel was faster. Using the discarded tray of food left on the table, the Iscariot quickly snatched it up and slammed it as hard as he could into the teenagers face, breaking yet another nose thanks to the blow. Not wanting to waste time, Abel kicked the back of Cardin's knees before he could turn and face him, causing him to lose his grip on the brown haired Faunus's ears before falling backwards, right into Abels' waiting arms.

Wrapping his arms tightly around Cardin's waist, Abel murmured the last words Cardin heard before forcefully being knocked out by the most brutal German Suplex any of those present in the schools cafeteria had ever seen.

"I am going to enjoy this far more than I have any right to."

The two remaining members of Team CRDL, Russel and Dove, attempted to rush at Abel once he rose from his bent backwards position, only for Russel to be dropped like a ten ton bolder from a cliff face after a brutal hay-maker connected with the pressure point located on the right side of his jaw while the crimson eyed teen dodged to the left, leaving just Dove to fend for himself.

Seeing himself at a complete disadvantage, Dove tried to capitalize on Abel's momentary distraction with Russel, only for his arm to be caught and for his bodies momentum to be used against him as the crimson eyed teenager performed a textbook uchimada toss, sending the last of the four man team sliding across the cafeteria while bouncing every few feet thanks to the velocity of the toss.

"Let this be a lesson to any would-be bully targeting those that are physically different than yourselves... you mess with any Faunus due to their difference from yourselves, and I will crush you beneath my heel like vermin should be." Abel called out, the entire room able to hear him thanks to the silence that descended upon the place of eating.

"Thank you... I didn't need the help though, now you are just going to get yourself in trouble..." The small girl finally spoke, her voice easily able to be heard over the still clapping students around them.

"T'wasn't a problem, little one, I was merely doing what should have been done ages ago. My name is Abel Iscariot, might I have the pleasure of knowing thine name?"

"Velvet... my name is Velvet Scarlatina. It is nice to meet you, Abel..." The somewhat shy girl answered in a small voice, looking up to stare Abel directly in the eyes only to look away moments later. 'Why are his eyes slitted... and are those fangs?'

"I know this might seem a little sudden, but would you care to join my comrades and I to finish your meal? I assure you, we are far better company than these... scoundrels."

The bunny eared girl looked shocked at such a question before nodding her head in the affirmative after a few moments of consideration. "I would like that.. very much. Thank you." She stated with a small blush on her face.

"Of course, little one." Abel responded with a kind voice before leading her back to teams' RWBY and JNPR. Seeing the strange looks on the faces of all eight of his newest... friends?, he asked the obvious question.

"Is... is there something on my face?"

 **[UPSM]**

"Do you know how much of a headache you have already caused me, Mister Iscariot? It hasn't even been a single day and you have already put four people in the infirmary, despite their trip being well deserved. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Ozpin questioned while staring at the crimson eyed teen through his spectacles resting on the tip of his nose.

Abel demurely shrugged his shoulders before accepting another cup of tea from his ever faithful Doll, who had quickly been hired on as Ozpin's assistant under the pretense of her continuing to brew him her wonderful tea, that way both Abel and the Doll could continue to reside in the same building without forcing Doll into combat classes. "I am sure it has caused you quite the headache, but I cannot, _SHALL_ not stand by and have those wretched beings committing such heinous acts in front of me."

Ozpin sighed before bringing up a recording of the fight, starting when Sky Lark had his face brutalized by the plastic cafeteria tray closest to Abel, luckily not being Velvet's as he did not wish to waste her food. The scene played out in less than a minute, showing just how skilled the silver haired teenager was compared to the four first year members of Team CRDL.

"Only a broken nose and two dislocated shoulders to show for it, though Cardin did suffer a rather nasty concussion after you executed the most flawless suplex I have ever seen. All in all... how would you like to represent Vale in the upcoming Vytal Festival?"

"...I would love to?" Abel answered, his voice unsure, not quite aware what the tournament would entail. "Though I very much doubt I would be much of a match for most competitors, who have access to this... Aura and Semblance. Would that not put me at a severe disadvantage?"

"Oh, absolutely, if we were to not help you unlock your Aura and hopefully find your semblance between now and the tournament." Ozpin answered easily enough, a small smile playing on his face.

Abels downtrodden and slightly confused expression lit up at the admittance, causing him to look up and stare his newest favorite teacher directly in his eyes. "When do we start?"

"We? Oh no, I will not be teaching you personally, instead... I have a better idea. You, Team RWBY and Team JNPR seem to get along swimmingly, I think this is the perfect opportunity for you to not only teach Ruby how to wield a scythe like yourself and Jaune on how to be a true Knight, but for you to learn from them all as well."

Abel quickly deflated at hearing he would not be receiving instruction from Ozpin himself, causing the man to slightly backtrack his words, "Though that does not mean I cannot give you a few lessons every now and then, though it can't be made public knowledge or I will be accused of favoritism, you see."

A large grin broke across Abel's face, exposing his heavily extended canines for the first time. "You know just how to make me one happy Vileblood, Professor. We have an accord. Shall my participation in this tournament count as my punishment, or...?"

"Oh no, I hope you didn't think you would be getting off that easily, young man. Instead of punishing you, however, we shall just say you owe me one favor that I can cash in at any time I need, within reason of course." Professor Ozpin stated with a completely stoic face, though Abel could still hear the humor in his tone.

With a shrug, the silver haired teen finished downing his tea before handing the porcelain cup back to his most favorite, and only favorite, Doll in the world. "If you get any better at this, I might just have to ask you to wed me, Doll."

If the porcelain animaton was capable of blushing, Abel was more than sure a fiery red would be dusting her cheeks at the teasing tone, though he found her expression and slight stuttering to be incredibly endearing.

"I jest, I jest, you could do far better than myself. You shall make some man very happy one day, Doll, very happy indeed." Abel finally relented, a ghost of a smile present on his face as he rose from his seated position.

"Oh, Good Hunter... you always say the kindest things to me." The Doll cooed, wanting nothing more than to give her favorite Hunter a large hug but refrained from doing so due to her knowledge of his dislike of being touched save a few rare occurrences.

"You deserve the kindness after what the two of us have been through together, would you not say so?" Abel questioned, though he already knew the answer. Of course she would say so, though she was not confident enough to say the words aloud.

"And Professor... just how did you already find out about my offering of teaching both Ruby and Jaune...? Certainly, only those two and their teams know of my offer, and I am more than certain you were no where near present for either of those conversations...?" Abel questioned, pausing in the doorway while slightly looking over his shoulder, confusion clearly evident on his face.

"I have my ways, Mister Iscariot... You have a good night, now, and try and get some rest for tomorrow."

 **[UPSM]**

Needless to say, Abel did not get the rest he wished for. Instead, he found himself pacing his empty 'Dorm Room' as Ozpin and Glynda called it, the bright moonlight filtering in through his curtain-less window in rivulets, almost as if trying to drown the rooms only occupant in its brilliant shine.

A half filled goblet of Yharnams specialty blood rested upon his desk next to his rather large stack of notes, though the way the liquid life was distilled made it look more like wine than blood. Despite being far from 'Home' and his Queen, Abel still found enjoyment from the sinful liquid produced only within the city as it was far more intoxicating than alcohol could ever be.

With yet another night of restlessness ahead of him due to the unfamiliar place he found himself in, the silver haired Iscariot tried to busy himself by thinking over the many runes he had found etched over his body. A small hand mirror was held in his left hand, using it to look over his shoulder to watch as more runes carved themselves into his flesh where there weren't scars present.

'More than twenty runes over all... what is the meaning of all of this?' Abel questioned himself, watching as the 'Deep Sea' rune carved itself unto his lower back, glowing the same ghastly crimson shade as the Hunter of Hunter rune had. The teenager was broken from his reveries when a sudden rapping upon his door rang out, causing him to jolt slightly.

"Ah... just a moment, please." Abel called out while walking over to his dresser, removing a pair of leather pants that most hunters of Yharnam wore. With skilled hands, two leather belts were crisscrossed over his hips and buckled after he pulled the leather over his lower body, keeping the pants on his hips instead of around his knees. Seeing as this was the most presentable he could be, he quickly slipped a light, sleeveless shirt over his torso and answered the door before whomever was on the other side could grow impatient.

"Ah, Miss Belladonna... what can I do for you this night?" Abel questioned, his crimson eyes easily locking onto the golden orbs that stared at him from just feet away. Still dressed in her day clothes, Blake looked no different than what he was used to, but it was the expression on her face that made him slightly weary of the bow wearing teenager across from him.

"I... have a few questions for you, Abel. May I come in, please?" Blake eventually answered, her eyes leaving his, only to trace his now exposed arms and the many scars and runes present upon his flesh.

Three angry red marks were crossing his throat in multiple directions, indicating what should have been multiple deathblows that eventually healed into the jagged scars present, shocking Blake due to their existence. More, and larger, scars were present along his collarbones and shoulders, ranging from what looked to be terrible burns to bullet wounds, gouges and even a few that looked to be gained from having large amounts of electricity coursing his flesh.

"I do not see why not?" The silver haired teen responded with confusion in his tone before stepping aside, allowing her to enter his rather spartan, but spacious, room. Two of the extra beds had been removed from his room, leaving just one for himself and one for Doll, who would be working through the night with Ozpin on a subject he was not privy to. The rest of the room looked like one would expect of a dorm room, though the different styles of weapon hanging from the walls reminded her of his Workshop as he called his home in the woods.

Blake, trying to get over her shock at the many different scars on his body, cleared her throat and tried to bring up why she was there. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Ozpin earlier, right after he dismissed my team... Were there no Faunus where you come from?"

Abel shrugged his shoulders before removing the pages containing his different notes on the runes showing up on his body and stuffing them into the drawer under the desk before locking them away. Trying to think of the best way of answering her question without seeming prejudiced, Abel merely shook his head in the negative, not trusting his voice to not give away his nervousness.

A sip from the goblet of Yharnam blood drew Blakes attention, whose nose easily picked up the coppery scent lingering in the air. Her eyes widened before narrowing when she read the label of the large bottle of crimson liquid sitting next to the goblet, though Abel was unaware of her wandering gaze.

"You also mentioned Humanity coming a long way since you last set foot in civilization, yet you also claim to come from a city named Yharnam..." Blake persisted with her questions, crossing her arms over her chest with a scowl on her face.

Instead of responding, Abel turned his attention from Blake to stare out at the moon from the window, taking in its deformed shape with a weary eye. After a few moments, the silver haired teenager finally relented, "I certainly wouldn't call Yharnam civilized, not in the way you seem to think. My land, and home, were ones filled with strife. Bloody, bloody strife.."

"What are you talking about?" Blake questioned, confusion and slight irritation in her tone. To her, it seemed as if the Good Hunter had been speaking nonsense, but the look in his eyes when he turned to face her let her know he only spoke the truth.

"I think it would be best if you start asking the right questions, Miss Belladonna."

 **[UPSM]**

"So what do you guys think of the new guy?" Yang questioned while tossing a small rubber ball against the wall, catching it with the rebound only to repeat the process. Weiss looked up from her homework with a slightly annoyed expression, though whether it was from the mentioning of the Iscariot or the noise being generated by the rubber ball Yang wasn't sure.

"For a ruffian, he seems to be alright." The white haired Schnee answered, her tone expressing her annoyance as did her expression. "Something about him... does not sit right with me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby questioned, looking up from her disassembled weapon while rubbing a fine layer of mineral oils over the many different moving parts making up her weapon. "He seems like a good guy, if a bit rough."

"A bit rough is putting it lightly, Sis." Yang stated before lobbing the ball harder than she intended, causing the rebound to hit Weiss directly in the back of the head. "Oops, sorry Weiss." She nervously chuckled, seeing the even more annoyed expression on her face before grabbing a pillow and holding it like a shield. "Please don't!"

"Don't what?" Weiss questioned with clenched teeth before winding her arm back and letting loose the small rubber ball with a few small glyphs appearing out of thin air to further increase the speed of the projectile. "Do that? My hand must have slipped. Oops."

Yang yelped as the small rubber ball slammed into her down shield and into her forearm, a sharp pain shooting through her arm not even a split second later. "OWW! Damn it, Schnee!"

"Will you two chill for a second? What do you mean something about him doesn't sit right with you?" Ruby questioned again, her brows slightly furrowed. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she too found Abel to be slightly intimidating, if only because of how vicious he was in a fight as evident by his two separate encounters with Cardin Winchester.

"He just seems... I dunno," Yang began, trying to think of the correct words, "A little... not normal?"

"How eloquent, Yang, you should write a sonnet." Weiss drawled before stating her own opinion, "He obviously isn't used to Human interaction outside of conflict. Didn't you notice how he sat in Professor Goodwitch's class? With his back against the wall. I don't know if you noticed or not, but he looked like a caged animal until he started fighting Cardin."

"Weiss, that has to be the most racist thing I have ever heard you say!" Yang gasped before slapping the girl on the arm with a stern look on her face, "You can't just say things like that, how do you think it would feel if YOU were discriminated against, hmm?"

Weiss didn't look the least bit ashamed by her words, instead waving Yang off with her left hand while turning her attention back to her homework. "I didn't mean it in the sense of Fauna, Yang. He just looked like he was ready to fight anyone in the room at the drop of a lien. He's paranoid about something."

None of the three members of Team RWBY present had anything to say on the subject after that, instead continuing to converse as teenage girls would. It was only hours later did Blake make it back to team RWBY's room, unaware of the silver eyes watching her from beneath the covers of a seperate bed.

'Hmm...'


	4. Call of the Omega

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **Chapter 4, Call of the Omega**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to RWBY or Bloodborne in the form of ownership, nor will I ever.**

 **Thank you all for sticking with this story so far despite the rough beginning, I thank you all from the bottom of my black hole!**

 **Now,**

 **Fear the Old Blood!**

 **[UPSM]**

With a weary sigh, Abel cast his gaze around the twelve different students crowded into the Bullhead around him, his hands flexing and releasing every few moments. It had been a full week since his confrontation with Team CRDL and his late night chat with Blake Belladonna, and an uneventful one at that.

Attending classes had been a nightmare, but the information now available at his fingertips more than made up for the boorish lessons the teachers came up with. Of all classes he had to now take, Combat class had become his favorite, and best, subject. Due to his skill and experience facing both human opponents and beasts of all shapes and sizes, he took the top spot of the class with almost no contest. At least, for the first years that was. Teams RWBY and JNPR had given him the most contest in the class as their combat prowess was leagues above average.

The hateful gazes sent his way by Team CRDL and the whispers back and forth between the four did not set his mind at ease any more did the roar of the engine covering up their words. If there was one thing the Moon Scented Hunter hated more than anything in the world, it was a surprise. Most of the time, surprises ended up with his head removed from his shoulders or boulders rolling down a set of circular stairs perfectly, something that still baffled him to this day.

Looking back, Abel was sure he could have avoided each and every one of those situations had he payed attention to his surroundings more, thus prompting the teen to begin counter planning for whatever situation Team CRDL had in store for him.

Team RWBY and JNPR had been chatting back and fourth rather animatedly, though Jaune looked downtrodden once again and Blake kept sending Abel nervous glances every so often. The black cloaked teenager seemed to pay her no mind, instead losing himself in his thoughts and plans for counter-re-revenge, considering this would make his third confrontation with Cardin.

Below the Bullhead the thirteen students and teacher traveled in, a crimson forest unlike any Abel had ever seen before passed by. The lush, red leaves reminded the Iscariot so much of the crimson liquid flowing through his veins that he felt his battle instincts flaring slightly, only for him to forcefully calm them through force of will. 'T'would not do good to work myself into a right tizzy... yet.' The silver haired teenager thought to himself while mentally going through his checklist on his gear.

The Burial Blade and Blade of Mercy lay not even feet from his grasps, each in as meticulous condition as expected from Siderite forged weapons. His Evelyn was still in its holster, comfortably resting with a few doses of bone marrow ash already stuffed into the barrel.

'I need to go about getting ammunition native to Remnant so I can save my quicksilver shots for an emergency.' Abel reminded himself after checking his rather limited ammo supply, showing he only had fifteen shots with his weapon if he didn't imbibe his blood for shots.

After five or so more minutes of sitting in the uncomfortable seat provided him, Abel was relieved to find out they had finally reached their destination. Releasing the straps that held him in his seat, the silver haired Iscariot quickly snatched up his precious weapons and placed them in their proper places amongst his body before joining the thirteen others gathered at the end of the bullheads ramp. Without a word, the rather large group began their trek onwards.

Eventually, the three teams, the teacher and the stray Vileblood finally come to a rather large clearing before Professor Goodwitch cleared her throat as she always did when trying to get students attention.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Falls is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked each all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Glynda began her speech, gathering the attention of all those present.

Abel tried not to scoff at her words but something told him underestimating the creatures most certainly dwelling in the forest could be his last mistake, so he took her warning for what it was. Out of the corner of his eyes, the Moon Scented Vileblood noticed Cardin scowling heavily in his general direction while his three goons seemed almost gleefully vindictive about something or another, something that made the silver haired teen even more paranoid than before.

Not wanting to know that the four teens were starting to get under his skin, Abel rests his left hand atop his Evelyn and starts scanning his surroundings, looking for the slightest discrepancies or the glow of crimson eyes in the darkness, two tell tale signs of the Creatures of Grimm's presence.

Holding up a jar of their overall objective, Glynda continued her speech. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back in this clearing by 4 O'clock. Have fun now, children!"

Team's RWBY and JNPR seem to go in one direction while Team CRDL seems to slink in the opposite while still whispering back and forth amongst one another, leaving just Glynda and Abel standing in the clearing.

"Is there a problem, Mister Iscariot?" Glynda questions, raising one of her blond brows at the teenagers seeming reluctance to enter the forest.

Abel didn't bother with a verbal answer, instead grabbing one of the metal spigots used to drain a tree of its inner sap with his right hand before soundlessly stepping into the permanently crimson forest. Glynda seemed rather put out that he didn't respond, but his nervousness was obvious to her well-trained eyes. It was only when his physical body disappeared into the darkness did his baritone voice ring out, though it seemed oddly distorted and chime-like. "I have a terrible feeling about this."

'Just what could have unnerved him?'

 **[UPSM]**

Alone for the first time since that morning, Abel took his time gathering his sap from multiple different trees, humming a tune he heard many times in Yharnam under his breath. While rather demented, the music produced by the tiny music box gifted to him by Gascoigne's young daughter seemed to soothe his nerves better than a bloody cocktail could at the moment.

The rustling of the leaves around him and the sound of multiple objects soaring through the air in his direction snapped him back to attention as he rolled to the left. Not a moment later, two jars filled with the crimson sap the students had been sent to collect impacted the tree with his spigot inside of it, covering the outside of its bark in the sticky substance. Before he could so much as blink, a third jar smashed into the ground before him, covering his armor in the same sticky sap as the tree.

With flared nostrils, Abel turned his now furious gaze all around him as he attempted to find Team CRDL, the only four who had the nerve to attack him in such a cowardly way.

"Have you not a scintilla of decorum, Cardin? Are you so desperate for revenge that you would sully your hands with such puerility?" Abel practically roared at the darkness surrounding him, listening for the shuffling of feet or leaves to locate his would-be attackers.

With what sounded like the rustling of paper, the Iscariot was soon set upon by a large swarm of insects with stingers close to the size of his pinky fingers. The first two to reach the silver haired teen were swatted at by his free right hand, his left never leaving his Evelyn, but they proved themselves agile by dodging completely around his hand and stinging him in the arm through his chain mail.

'Damn it to Mensis, that smarts!' Abel thought to himself while furiously backtracking away from the large and angry insects, who seemed to want nothing more than to ravage his body until death. Within moments, more of the vicious insects swooped in and attempted to sting him again, but this time the Iscariot was prepared.

Sending the arcane energy that pooled in his blood straight to his vocal chords, he initiated one of his lesser used techniques up until his fight with the Old One that landed him in Remnant. A massive concussive force tore out of his throat and through the air, an inhumane, bestial roar that could be heard for miles around.

The shock wave produced by the concussive blast splattered many of the stinging insects instantly, proving to be more than their frail bodies could withstand unlike a human or bestial opponent who would be merely stunned. After running its course, Abel gently rubbed his right arm across his throat while spitting out a glob of blood, feeling his throat slowly knitting itself back together after the sudden build up and release of force.

Cardin and his three teammates tried to flee the scene quickly after the frightening display, but the bestial roar had drawn the attention of multiple Alpha Grimm, ranging from Ursai, Beowulves and quite a few humanoid Grimm of all shapes and sizes.

Letting lose a terrified yelp, Cardin attempted to draw his shrunken mace but was too slow, instead taking a paw swipe directly to the face courteous of the nearest Alpha Ursa. Going limp from the blow, Cardins' unconscious body came to a rolling halt at Abels' feet more than ten feet away, letting him know that something more than just team Cardin waited for him in the darkness.

"Sky, Dove, Russel, take Cardin and get out of here!" Abel shouted, watching as the three attempted to swipe their weapons towards the large congregation of crimson eyes peering out of the darkness of the woods. While he did hate the four for their bullying and their most recent stunt, he certainly didn't want their deaths on his head.

Hearing the warning from the Iscariot, the three tore off in his direction before swooping their leader up and making their way to the clearing Glynda was in at breakneck speeds, leaving the Iscariot alone with numerous Alpha Grimm.

A quick draw of his Evelyn saw the beginning of the showdown, removing the head of one unlucky Ursa before it could so much as blink. Not wasting time, Abel holstered his long firearm and searched around the leather pouch on his hip for an antidote, hoping that it would be enough to remove the numbness in his right arm. Finding what he was looking for, Abel quickly poured the bitter powder into his mouth after ripping off his helmet while rotating his right shoulder and slightly bouncing in place, trying to get his blood flowing as fast as he could to circulate the antidote to the afflicted areas.

Seeing their newest meal take down one of the larger Ursai of the horde of monsters, the Grimm launched themselves forward after seeing their opponent was staying relatively in the same spot instead of running about. Trying to time it perfectly, Abel reloaded his Evelyn and raised it to his hip level before firing off another round, this time hitting a bipedal Beowulf directly in its right leg, causing it to drop down onto its three that weren't critically wounded.

The second shot had struck true, but it was no killing blow. The very same Grimm now sporting the wounded leg let loose a roar much like Abel's, though much notably weaker. Hearing the roar, all of the Grimm rushed forward at one, causing the silver haired Iscariot to backtrack while feeling the antidote slowly working its magic.

'This is bad. Really, really bad.' Abel thought to himself bitterly while using his still sightly numb arm to grasp the hilt of his Burial Blade after tossing his helmet to the side before slamming it into its wooden shaft and extending it into its scythe mode. Another push of arcane energy saw the yellow bone around his neck faintly glowing before he initiated one of his more used techniques, the quickening.

Disappearing in a blur of red smoke instead of the standard yellow, Abel was quickly propelled forward while he swung his deadly blade wide, catching two of the foul beasts rushing towards him in one swipe. With a powerful tug, the two creatures were bisected, though not without cost. During his brief flash forward, three different types of Grimm Abel had never seen before positioned themselves in front of him before releasing a volley of projectiles.

Many of the bone spurs and clumps of needles bounced harmlessly off of his chest piece, however more than a few made it past the chain mail on his arm thanks to their small size. A colorful curse erupted Abel's throat before be began flashing backwards with crimson smoke trailing behind him, putting a large distance between himself and the swarm of Grimm currently trying to rip him limb from limb.

Most of the spurs were easy to remove with his left hand while his right clutched the Burial Blade tightly, not wanting to let go of his only lifeline in his fight with the Grimm outside of the Blade of Mercy still hanging from the back of his hips.

Using a rather clumsy swipe by the closest Grimm to his advantage, Abel raced up the arm now embedded in the earth before removing the foul beasts head in one swing of his scythe, knocking yet another opponent out of the fight. Spring boarding upwards, the silver haired Iscariot took a few pages from his fallen teachers book and began channeling his arcane energy directly into the Burial Blade. The many different eldritch runes carved into the Siderite weapon began to glow in a carmine light until they were almost blinding.

Having seen Gehrman practicing this technique when he wasn't sleeping and crying his eyes out when he thought no one was looking, Abel had studied the arcane magic that flowed through him enough to replicate one of his teachers more deadly techniques through memory alone.

A massive shock wave erupted from the blade as Abel swung downwards, completely eviscerating a gargantuine swath of the bipedal Grimm and felling trees under the massive vacuum wave until only the strongest remained.

The remaining Grimm looked ready to continue their attempts at ending Abel's life while crawling out of the crimson and grey trees that had collapsed on them, but a low growl from the darkness caused the beasts to turn their attention behind them. After a few more moments of seemingly communicating amongst one another, something the Iscariot was terrified of, the small sea of Alpha Grimm parted in half.

Standing before him was the most humanoid Grimm Abel had yet to see amongst the sea of opponents baying for his blood. A bone white mask with crimson tracing the small slits it had for eyes rested upon the seven foot tall figure casually strolling towards him. Two great, curved horns stretched from the top of the figures skull while a long mane of spiky crimson hair that glowed much like its eyes spilled out from beneath the mask, further reinforcing the humanoid appearance of the creature.

Spilling over its shoulders was a cloak much like Abel wore, obscuring the ebony flesh of his opponent beneath its folds. Angry crimson marking stretched up and down whatever exposed flesh the Iscariot could make out, seemingly glowing in the same shade as the Grimm's eyes usually did in the darkness.

Lean, muscled arms gave way unto vicious claws whose purpose could only be to tear and rend with how serrated they were. A simple, black loin clothe was wrapped around the creatures waist, providing the creature some form of decency despite the fact that it shouldn't even need the cloth as it was supposed to lack sexual organs.

The look the creature was giving the Vileblood Knight was enough to intimidate the battle-hardened warrior by the intelligence and blood lust lurking in those twin glowing carmine slits.

'Old Ones, give me strength...'

The seven foot humanoid Grimm was incredibly fast, the first thing Abel noticed about it as it erupted from its position not even seven feet from him and closed the distance in just half a second, half a second too slow to catch Abel unaware though.

The moment the Vileblood noticed the creatures muscles tense up in preperation of its surprise launch, he twisted on his heel and span his body just a feet outside of the creatures grasp while sweeping his scythe in the direction of his previous position.

His blade scraped along the creatures back, though it was not as deep as it should have been. 'It's skin must be tougher than what I am used to.' Abel thought to himself while ducking under a wide sweep from the creatures right claw before quick stepping through the gap in the attacks range, putting him behind the creature once more.

Another swipe of his scythe along the creatures back in almost the same exact spot drew forth the first rivulets of what Abel assumed was blood, though the strange vivacious liquid now coating his blade could hardly be considered the same substance as the liquid life force running through his veins.

Turning quickly on its haunches, the beast swiped its claws in Abel's general direction though they were feet from connecting. Or, Abel thought they wouldn't connect had its claws now erupted into some form of strange energy, cutting five deep gashes into the Iscariot's chest while pushing him back a good bit.

With grit teeth, Abel drew a blood vial from the leather casing on his back and jammed it into his thigh through a small opening in his armor, allowing the five vicious wounds across his chest to start healing at a rate higher than his Vileblood regeneration provided him.

Seemingly one not to waste a valuable opportunity, the powerful Grimm let loose three move volleys of the same energy attack, causing Abel to start quick stepping out of the way in a seemingly random direction. The beast started following soon after the third volley was released, leaning forward as it raced towards him to reduce wind resistance.

A shot from his Evelyn saw the creature leaping away from its current position five paces from Abel and to its right, allowing the Iscariot to use a tactic he once used against his teacher. A burst of crimson smoke saw Abel once more entering his quickening state while he released as many slashes of his scythe as he could in such a state.

More often than not, the arcane enforced Siderite edge sliced deeply into the strange Grimm, though none of the attacks proved to be enough to put the creature down permanently. Along its left thigh, three different gashes crossing one another were now sported on its black flesh, causing the Grimm to favor its right leg to uphold its surely heavy weight. Two large gashes crisscrossed its chest, much deeper than the wounds on its back judging by the amounts of black liquid now pouring down the creatures body.

The crimson glow of its hair only seemed to grow brighter before everything within a five foot radius of the creature was destroyed by a strange blast of the same energy the Grimm used to power its ranged attacks. Abel was luckily outside of the range of the technique thanks to having flashed backwards more than a few times after he successfully landed five good blows on the beast that dared challenge him.

Liquid life still poured from the five large gashes on his chest, proving the wounds to be much deeper than a single blood vial could heal, though the Iscariot dared not attempt to heal again least the creature begin launching another volley of its energy waves at him.

Seeing as the creature was now starting to attempt to circle Abel slowly, the Iscariot began to circle the creature in the opposite direction, locking them in a stare down. Sweat dripped from Abel's brow while his breathing just started to become labored at the large usage of arcane energy used to power his attacks as opposed to sacrificing his quicksilver supply as he normally would to use such attacks.

The creature seemed just as out of breath as Abel if such a thing were possible, or it could have been just waiting on the perfect opportunity to strike.

 **[UPSM]**

"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby questioned, her head snapping up from its tilted position at the sound of the most terrifying roar she had ever heard in her life, far surpassing any puny bellow by any Grimm she had heard thus far.

Before any of the other seven present could answer, the sound of rushing feet are heard before the three members of Team CRDL carrying their wounded and bleeding leader dashed from the darkness of the forest and into the same clearing the Teams RWBY and JNPR resided in.

"We screwed up, we screwed up bad! Oh man, Cardin's hurt and Iscariot is surrounded by a bunch of Alpha Grimm! Someone please help!" Russel shouted, panic clearly in his voice as his eyes darted rapidly between the eight members of the two teams.

"What?! Yang questioned with shock in her tone before grabbing the panicking boy by his collar, "Where?"

Russel struggled against the blond teenagers grip while jerking his hand in the direction he just ran from, the panic never leaving his expression. "We tried to prank Iscariot by covering him in this stupid sap and getting Rapier Wasps to attack him, but he let out this really loud roar unlike anything I ever heard before! The Alpha just showed up! We have to do something, he got stung a few times before the Grimm showed up!"

"You need to calm down and set Cardin down," Ruby started, causing Sky and Dove to gently set their leaders down, "Now Weiss, can you please bandage his wounds? Yang, you go get professor Glynda, Blake, you're with me!"

Having grown to trust the young girls judgment, her team quickly went about following her orders while Jaune was still trying to process what is happening.

"So you four tried to play a nasty prank on Abel, only it back fired? Now he's surrounded by ALPHA Grimm?" Jaune asked incredulously, though the terrified look on the three conscious members of Team CRDL caused the blond to not doubt their words.

With a nod of his head, Jaune began giving orders of his own. "Nora, Ren, you two follow after Yang and make sure to watch your backs, there could be more Grimm in between here and there. Pyrrha, come with me!"

Not needing to be told twice, Nora and Ren bolted after Yang while the crimson haired Nikos and the blond Knight in training dashed after Ruby and Blake. The sound of battle grew more and more until the four heading towards Abel's direction came across a large swath of felled trees and large white Grimm masks laying shattered on the ground.

The sight of multiple gashes in the earth that had blasted outwards shocked the four, but not enough to stop them from their forward progress. The large, hunched over form of dozens upon dozens of Grimm standing in a large circle did, however.

In the center of the large circle of Alpha Grimm stood Abel, who was currently circling the most frightening Grimm any of the four trainee Huntsmen and women had ever seen.

Its large horns and fiery mane of hair had set it apart from the rest of the Creatures of Grimm they had seen thus far, looking more like a demon than the bestial creatures they had grown used to seeing such as Beowulves.

The many gashes in the creatures body told them that Abel had the fight well in hand, though the wounds still present on the silver haired teenager and the blood dripping from multiple spots worried the four members of two separate teams greatly.

Just as Jaune and Ruby were about to step forward to help the stray Vileblood, the Alpha Grimm turned and began to growl at them fiercely, causing them to pause and then step back slightly. The Grimm seemed to nod their heads at the teenagers wise decision and turned their intelligent eyes back to the fight at hand.

"What is going on here?!" Ruby whispered harshly to Jaune, Blake and Pyrrha, having never seen Grimm act in such a way nor having heard such a thing was possible. As far as she was concerned, Grimm were mindless creatures that held not even a single iota of intelligence, thus causing pause between the four at the large amount present in the creatures before them.

"They don't want us interfering." Blake stated simply, having read the look and chalking it up to the pack mentality these Grimm seemed to be displaying. If her suspicions were correct, the strangely human Grimm Abel was currently facing off against was the leader of their pack, an Alpha amongst Alpha's.

"What makes you think that?" Ruby questioned while twisting her body slightly in Blakes direction, though she didn't take her eyes off of the large amounts of rather scary Grimm surrounding someone she considered an acquaintance. While she couldn't claim to be close to Abel, she surely thought more of him than just a complete stranger after spending the last week getting to know him.

Fighting another scythe user outside of her uncle had been a thrill and she would be damned if she didn't feel some sense of camaraderie with someone who had given her quite a few tips on new ways to use her weapon.

"Each of these Grimm look like smaller versions of the one currently fighting Abel, though its hard to tell in the dark." Blake stated with a shrug, who was easily able to make out the visage of each and every creature present thanks to her night-vision granted to her thanks to her Faunus heritage, not that her team knew that of course.

Jaune scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion before shrugging his shoulders at her explanation. "I don't know how you know that, but I'll take your word for it."

Their attention was torn away from one another as the creature Abel was currently circling like a vulture let loose a primal roar before attempting to close the distance between itself and its silver haired opponent with its right arm stretched out for a clothesline.

Having more than a little experience with a technique very similar to the one being displayed by the strange Grimm, Abel easily ducked underneath the blow as it came and cleverly positioned his weapon before the creatures legs to initiate the final blow of the fight.

Not seeing the weapons position before it was too late, the blood addled Grimm attempted to continue forward to put distance between itself and Abel after its failed attack, at least until its legs made contact with the vicious blade waiting in its path.

The blade lit up the same way it had previously before the Iscariot tugged violently backwards, removing both of the beasts legs in one go. Its torso lurched forward and heavily impacted the ground, a howl escaping its throat before a follow up attack in the form of a downward stab with the tip of his scythe ended the creatures life, completely tearing through the back of its skull and imbedding itself in the ground.

Instead of disappearing into a black haze like the rest of the Grimm had, the strange monster before him instead stilled while continuing to ooze out black ichor from its many different wounds.

'I never thought I would be thankful for having memorized the Blood-starved beasts attack patterns.' Abel thought to himself while casting weary looks at the still large amount of Alpha Grimm surrounding him in a perfect circle.

Instead of rushing forward to end his life, however, the creatures of Grimm did something that was completely out of character for the soulless creatures. They knelt to the ground as if giving him deference, thus stopping him from initiating another attack against them immediately.

A strange crimson glow from the creature he just recently slayed brought his attention back to the fallen beast, if only momentarily. Before he could so much as blink, the crimson energy that seemingly permeated the beast erupted from its still body and forced its way into his wounds and body, causing him to roar in agony at the unexpected rush of unfamiliar force.

The wounds on his chest began to slowly knit themselves back together, though the wounds did leave scars in their place as opposed to unmarred flesh, indicating their unnatural healing process. The five gashes finally knit themselves shut, but instead of acting as natural scars would, they began to glow the very same crimson as the energy that just forced its way into his body.

Before he could succumb to unconsciousness, the Iscariot caught a brief flash of white, yellow, black, red and bronze in different patterns, letting him know that help had arrived even if it were a bit late.

"Thank the Old Ones..." Were the last words uttered by the silver haired Vileblood before darkness finally consumed his mind and vision, his entire world fading to black.


	5. Ashes of Eden

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **Chapter 5, Ashes of Eden**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to either RWBY or Bloodborne in the ways of any sort of ownership.**

 **Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! My review count doubled from chapter 3 to chapter 4, so thank you all very much for the feedback! Quite a few of you guessed correctly to some of the suppositions, though I am not going to say which ones just yet.**

 **Now,**

 **Fear the Old Blood!**

 **[UPSM]**

The four students of Beacon did not know what to make of the situation they found themselves in. Standing across from them, a large pack of Alpha Grimm were acting in a way that contradicted everything they learned about throughout their years of training as Huntsmen and Huntswomen.

In the center of the large pack of Grimm lay their currently, hopefully, unconscious classmate. The bizarre situation only became even stranger when one of the Grimm picked up Abel's limp body and began to slowly stalk towards the group of four.

The Grimm approaching them looked much like the one recently struck down by the Iscariot, however it was only in general features such as the horned mask, cloak and forms of clothing. A long mane of white hair spilled out from the back of the more delicately featured mask, glowing in an ethereal light much like the now deceased leader of their pack.

The black cloak covering the frame of the Grimm was much more detailed, having white markings embroidered in the shadowy material that made up the 'cloth'. Light gray skin peaked out from where the cloak didn't cover as opposed to stark ebony or bone white like the standard color of most Grimm, though the many different Alpha around them had already shown that each of them had a separate color scheme from one another.

It was only when Ruby, Blake, Jaune and Pyrrha got a closer look at the strange being carrying the wounded teenager did they realize it was much, much more feminine than the rest of those gathered save maybe four.

"Don't make any sudden movements, Jaune." Ruby stated while watching him from the corner of her eyes, seeing how he tensed up once the strangely female Grimm get within what he considered striking distance.

The Grimm finally came to a halt before the group of eight before gently holding out the calmly breathing body of Abel while another Grimm followed behind her while carrying his fallen weapon almost reverently.

The four looked between themselves before Blake shakily stepped forward before taking the limp form of her schoolmate from the arms of the Grimm, who nodded to her after what looked like sniffing the air a few times. The masked creature proceeded to point at its chest before pointing two fingers down and moving them to indicate walking before pointing at the group.

"You... are going to follow us?" Blake questioned, before the Grimm shook her head in the negative. She repeated her hand gestures, but instead pointed at Abel specifically. "You are going to follow Abel?"

The Grimm in the clearing shuffled behind the two currently 'negotiating' with the Beacon students, mulling about while nudging one another while remaining passive. The two Grimm that did step forward nodded their heads at the final question, causing the four to shakily nod their heads.

The sound of multiple footfalls drew the attention of the clearing full of Grimm and the four conscious students of Beacon, causing multiple heads to turn in the direction the noise was originating from. Glynda and the remaining members of both teams RWBY and JNPR came to a halt after bypassing the large barrier of debris created by the shock wave released by the Iscariot, each with their weapons out and ready for action.

"Don't attack! They're friendly!" Ruby shouted upon seeing her sister get ready to release a volley of bullets from her transformed gauntlets while Glynda readied her riding crop for her dust based attacks.

"Nonsense, there is no breed of Grimm that is 'friendly'." Glynda scoffed before her words were promptly proven false. The white haired, and distinctly female, Grimm standing just before the four students waved towards the teacher as if greeting a friend.

"...What?" Yang and Weiss questioned together with perfect timing, while Ren and Nora looked nonplussed at the strange behavior of the creatures mulling about. If anything, Nora looked like she wanted to 'play' with them. Ren, recognizing the look on the girls face immediately reached out and firmly grasped the girls wrist, stopping her from racing towards the 'nice' Grimm as she was now ranting about.

"But Reeeeeeen! She waved at us! I wonder if SHE knows what a sloth sounds like?" Nora then began ranting about many different subjects at once, something Team JNPR has grown used to.

The many different Grimm continued to stare at the now almost complete group of students and their teacher, not to mention the stray Vileblood they seemed so interested still resting calmly in Blakes arms. The golden eyed female seemed to put no effort into suspending his body in her arms, though it was to be expected with her previous training and her aura capacity.

"Okay students, I think today has been eventful enough. Ruby, take the rest of the students and get back to the Bullhead. I will be just a few feet behind you. Make sure to not make any sudden movements, we don't know if these Grimm will remain peaceful." Glynda eventually stated after getting over her shock at seeing such strangely intelligent behavior being displayed by the Grimm before them.

The white haired female Grimm seemed to understand their intentions and calmly waited for the group to move towards the bullhead while the rest of the pack waited for their Beta to move. Once the group from Beacon was a comfortable enough distance, the group of Grimm slowly followed after them with movements so fluid they might as well have been liquid.

Glynda continued to walk backwards, only stopping long enough to bring out her scroll with shaky hands to capture both pictographs of the Grimm and to contact Ozpin. Using the distress call feature of her scroll, Ozpin would be sure to answer post-haste, knowing that she would never use the feature unless it was an incredibly serious situation.

" _Is everything okay, Glynda?"_ Professor Ozpins voice broke through the silence as the group continued to head to the bullhead, still being calmly followed by the pack of sentient Grimm who seemed almost amused by the reaction of those from Beacon if their body language was to go by.

"Please tell me you are seeing this, Ozpin." Glynda stated with a deceptively calm voice, despite the fact that her shaking hands almost couldn't keep her scroll steady enough to capture the very strange sight being recorded and transmitted to the Headmaster of Beacon directly.

The line went silent for a few moments before Ozpin finally spoke up, _"I have never seen this breed of Grimm, let alone see the creatures stand calmly in the presence of living beings with Aura... What is going on, Glynda?"_

The Goodwitch didn't know how to answer the question, seemingly stuttering for a few moments before letting out a huff. "I do not know, I do know that Ruby Rose prevented me from attacking them, stating that they were 'Friendly', as she so put it." Glynda eventually replied with Ruby piping up in the background to confirm her statement.

"They are! The white haired one carried Abel over to us while the orange haired one brought his weapon after he killed one of them! They even know sign language!" Ruby almost shouted, her voice easily carrying through the clearing with the bullhead as well as the conscious members of team CRDN.

The group of discriminatory teenagers almost fainted when the pack of Grimm calmly stepped into the clearing after teams RWBY and JNPR. Glynda was still speaking hush hushed with Ozpin, who seemed both fascinated and disturbed by the most breaking development.

"Alright teams, I think there has been far too much excitement for one day. Get in the bullhead, we are going home." Glynda snapped out after a few more moments of taking footage and speaking with Ozpin.

A round of 'Okay's and even a faint whimper of 'Finally' was her response before the three teams, two of which were carrying unconscious students, piled into the bullhead. Stopping at the ramp leading into the belly of the mechanical beast, Ruby turned on her heel and waved again at the white haired Grimm, who promptly waved back as well as over half of the pack of intelligent Grimm, causing the small girl to smile widely.

"Best. Fieldtrip. Ever."

None of the others seemed to reciprocate the notion.

 _ **[UPSM]**_

The pack of Grimm easily kept up with the Bullhead on its return trip to Beacon, something that surprised Glynda and the students, but with how their day had been so far it shouldn't have in the slightest.

Instead of attempting to meet them at Beacon, the white haired Beta of the pack signaled to the group still in the metal beast hanging in the sky that they would be occupying the Emerald Forest in the north-east, the same area that Abel awoke after the Dream had ended by waving and then pointing after waiting to see if it had gotten anyone's attention.

Headmaster Ozpin, Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port were waiting on the group when the Bullhead touched down, though the Doctor seemed much more subdued than normal. His expression was stern when he held out his arms to carry Abel to the infirmary where he could tend his wounds while Port easily carried Cardin over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, all while telling a story to the students about another moment of his youth and his cabbage smelling relative to detract from the serious mood.

Ruby had a smile on her face, though why that was none of the group was sure. Yang had a feeling that she was still thinking of the friendly Grimm, but then again it WAS Ruby so it could be anything.

Weiss and Blake looked like they were in severe need of a nap, as did the rest of team CRDN. Team JNPR followed silently behind the green haired Doctor, their expressions ranging from worried to carefree, though Nora was hardly ever NOT carefree as they all knew.

"The Grimm followed us the entire way here, Headmaster." Ruby finally spoke up, "They pointed to the same area we first found Abel."

"Do you have any idea on just why they followed you?" Ozpin questioned, curiosity coloring his tone as he spoke. The fact that the Grimm could travel from Forever Falls to the Emerald Forest was distressing, but the way Ruby described them and the video from Glynda showed the intelligent man that they might not even be a threat, for now.

"They were following Abel. After killing their previous Alpha, they must have shifted that authority to him." Blake answered for the young girl, knowing far more on the subject of packs of animals and their behavior than Ruby. "They are very intelligent, Headmaster, and if I am not mistaken, friendly. They waved to Ruby and Glynda both like they were greeting friends, and as we said, they willingly brought Abel to me after he passed out instead of attacking him while he was down."

The information provided to him was stored away to be thought on later, "That is a logical conclusion. Thank you for clearing that up for me." Ozpin smiled at the black haired Faunus, who nodded her head in response before she turned her attention to the silver haired male still unconscious in Doctor Oobleck's arms.

"Is he going to be alright, Doctor?" Ruby eventually spoke while they continued towards the infirmary, worry evident in her tone.

Oobleck raised his head and looked the young girl in the eyes as he spoke. "His pulse is steady as is his breathing. By all means, he should be conscious, but his mind might be in shutdown right now due to a strange fluctuation in his Aura..."

Teams RWBY and JNPR let out a breath they didn't know they were holding after hearing the news, but they still had worried expressions on their faces.

'A fluctuation in his Aura? How can a soul fluctuate?' Blake questioned herself, looking a bit shocked at the doctors prognosis. "Is... is that normal?"

"No, no it is not..." Oobleck finally answered after a moment of silence. The group of students and professors finally made it to the infirmary where there were two beds already waiting for Cardin and Abel. After dropping Cardin off in his bed rather roughly, Professor Port quickly excused himself from the room, a deep frown on his usually jovial face.

The Doll was already waiting by the bed Abel would be resting in, a calm expression on her face while her eyes spoke a completely different story. "Ah, Good Hunter... Always finding yourself in situations like this." She spoke gently, though there was an undercurrent of worry in her voice.

The large group didn't look surprised at her words, already knowing that Abel bore more scars than any other person they had ever seen, though Ruby and Yang were sure that their Uncle Qrow had close to the same amount as well as their father Taiyang.

"How many times has he come to you wounded?" Weiss questioned Doll while Doctor Oobleck hooked Cardin and Abel up to different I.V. drips as well as monitoring devices. Cardin was a bit pale, though his Aura had healed up any wounds he had sustained. Other than the obvious blood loss, the Doctor was sure that Cardin would make a full recovery.

"T'would be an impossible number to articulate accurately." The Doll answered simply, watching with sharp eyes the process Oobleck was going through to monitor the two wounded individuals. "His encounter with Simon and Maria certainly almost sent him to an early grave, this is nothing to him."

Weiss seemed shocked at the admission, but after seeing just how many scars Abel bore, she schooled her expression and resumed her normally haughty expression. "Simon and Maria?" She questioned, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"'Tis not my place to speak of such things." The Doll shrugged daintily, almost grinning at the white haired lass. "But I will say that the encounter... changed him. For better or worse, I do not know."

The Schnee nodded her head and pursed her lips in thought, choosing not to comment further on the subject, instead deciding to wait to speak with Abel about such matters.

Blake filed the information away for later while leaning forward to get a better look at the heavy crimson glow still emanating from the wicked gashes across his chest. The ashen armor still hanging limply on his torso was slowly removed by Doctor Oobleck after making sure that his equipment was working correctly as well as his helmet, both of which were placed in a small container to the side of the bed.

Blake, Weiss and Ruby looked away from Abel with a light blush dusting their cheeks, something the Doll noticed almost immediately while Nora, Yang and Pyrrha leaned in closer to get a better look at the many scars that criss-crossed the Iscariots upper body in either awe or shock. Ren and Jaune looked like their mothers had starting hitting on them, to say the least.

Yang blanched and looked away quickly, taking back her thoughts of her uncle and father having near as many scars as Abel. "I can't even count them all..."

'How can someone survive this many wounds?! Most of these are deep enough to surely rupture organs and carve his bones!" The Nikos thought, immediately placing her hand on her stomach where a single scar ran across her abdomen, though it was no where near as deep as many of the old wounds decorating the silver haired males body. 'Just who are you, Abel, and how are you alive?'

Nora was trying to play connect the dots with many of the different scars, though Ren was quick to confiscate the permanent marker that she pulled from Oum knows where. "But Reeeen, I can make a giraffe!"

"No, Nora. Maybe when he wakes up you can ask him to play connect the dots, but right now he is hurt." Ren stated in his usual indulgent tone when speaking with the hyper active Valkyrie, a small smile on his abnormally pale face. 'This man has to be a demon to walk away after sustaining this many wounds... a large portion of these scars were created with bladed and blunt weapons.'

Jaune tried not to pass out at the sight of the many healed wounds, going green around the gills almost immediately upon laying eyes on the vicious scars. "How... How is he even ALIVE?!"

"That... is a very good question." Doctor Oobleck murmured, his face sombre as he cataloged the different wounds sustained for Abel's now steadily growing medical file. As he went to draw blood to check for any different illnesses, he was stopped by a very harsh grip tightening around his forearm just moments before the needle pierced his flesh. Oobleck looked down at the still unconscious male, whose eyes had snapped open in a sightless gaze, the orbs glowing a baleful crimson much like his chest wound.

"I would recommend against trying to draw blood, Good Doctor." The Doll stated gravely, watching with sad eyes as Abel's shut after a few moments of staring down the medic even in his sleep. The grip on Oobleck's arm loosened and after a few moments Abels arm dropped to the bed listlessly.

On the outside, the Doctor maintained his collected visage, but on the inside the man was cursing every name he could think of. "How was he even able to stop me? His mind is still unresponsive."

"T'would be telling, Good Doctor. I am the only being capable of touching him in his sleep, so I have found." The Doll vaguely stated before brushing her hands gently across his forehead, pushing his locks of silver away from his face as she did so.

Ozpin cleared his throat lowly, drawing the attention of the eight students still mulling about the room in either shock or worry. "While I am sure many of you are very worried, we must all let the Doctor do his work. Would you eight please follow me to my office and give me a debriefing? You as well if you don't mind, Glynda."

The eight students, the combat instructor and the headmaster excused themselves from the room, leaving the wounded to be treated by the skilled hands of the Doctor in peace. They missed the low groan coming from the wounded Hunter as well as his eyes slowly opening, the bright glow still as present as the one coming from the slash marks on his chest.

 **[UPSM]**

"I have never seen anything like that before..." Yang murmured to her sister while following after Glynda and Ozpin to the headmasters office. Ruby nodded her head in agreement with her sister, though she did not vocalize such a thing.

"I... I feel so bad for him, Yang!" She finally admitted, her silver eyes almost tearing up as she peered into her sisters Lilac eyes seeking comfort. "How can he go through all of that and still be as... nice as he is?" She questioned, trying to suppress the tears threatening to well up in her eyes.

"Don't feel bad for him Miss Rose, men like Abel hate pity." Glynda stated, "Instead, just continue to be there for him, that is all you can really do." The Goodwitch then continued her quiet conversation with Ozpin, unaware of the amber eyes now resting on her back.

'Men like Abel...?' Blake questioned herself for the second time that day, confusion evident on her face. "What do you mean, Professor?"

With a sigh, Glynda broke away from her conversation once again to turn back to the students, this time locking her lime green eyes onto the feline faunus with a neutral expression on her face. "Mister Iscariot has been through... more than even myself and Ozpin, as you can tell. He is a warrior first and foremost, not a delicate little flower. Pity those who face off against such a being, but not Abel. I am uncomfortable with having such a... bloodied being present at this prodigious academy, but even I have to admit that my first impression of him was wrong. Abel is a monster, there is no doubt about that... but he has shown there is far more to him than meets the eye."

"How dare you call him a monster!" Ruby all but shouted, stopping dead in her tracks upon hearing her combat instructors harsh words, her face flushed in anger, "He has been nothing but a perfect gentleman to my team as well as team JNPR! Sure, he got a bit snappy with Weiss, but that was only after she insulted him by asking if he lived under a rock! If he was a monster, he would have killed us all the moment we approached his workshop!"

Glynda sighed, stopping as well after hearing the anger in Ruby's voice. "You are misconstruing what I am saying... I don't mean a monster as in he will harm any of us willingly. To go through what he went through, do you really think you can consider him just a man?"

Ruby seemed to calm down slightly, but her anger was still evident in the glare she was sending Glynda's way. "Whatever, I don't care what he went through! He is not a monster!"

Yang placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder while shaking her head slowly, "Sis... I have to agree with the Professor on this... Abel has to be a monster to walk away from what he has and you know it. She isn't comparing him to a Grimm, she is just saying that he doesn't... think or work like we do, ya know?"

Ruby seemed to deflate even further, but her glare remained on Glynda the entire trek to Ozpins office. 'How dare she! And you are dead wrong Yang, dead wrong!'

Little did Ruby know that Weiss, Blake and Nora silently agreed with the young leader of team RWBY, though they did not vocalize their disagreement with their teachers words. Ren, Jaune, Pyrrha and Yang, however, agreed completely with their strict instructors description of the Iscariot, to what extent they did not know, however.

"A monster is someone who would willingly harm innocent people for their own gain or for fun, not someone who can survive and thrive in battle, Professor." Nora spoke up as they neared the stairs that would take them to the top of the tower stationed in the center of Beacon, "Abel is not someone who would do that."

Glynda turned an appraising eye to the normally very hyperactive teenager as if this was the first time she was seeing her, and in a way it was. She had never known Nora to be such an insightful individual, though that was to be expected as the orange haired Valkyrie was usually rambling about pancakes, sloths, her crazy dreams or all of the above.

"Those were very wise words, Miss Valkyrie, very wise words indeed." Ozpin spoke, a look of understanding being shared between the student and headmaster in that moment before he turned his eyes back to Glynda who now wore a carefully crafted blank expression to hide the shock she was surely feeling at being called out in such a way. "How did you come to that conclusion, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Would a monster willingly step into the path of Grimm to save a team of students that had just attacked him not even moments before?" Nora questioned, turning her teal gaze to the usually carefree headmaster, "Would a monster offer to train my teams leader for no other reason than being a fellow Knight or even offer to help him find weapons that would suit him better than a sword and shield?"

Ozpin hummed to himself, thinking hard on his answer before reaching his conclusion, "No, Miss Valkyrie, you are absolutely correct. A monster would not do any of those things..."

Nora beamed at the response before she quickly went back into her hyperactive state of mind, almost forgetting the conversation that took place not even moments prior. "Sooooo, are you going to share that yummy smelling coffee with me or what, Professor? Come on, pleaseeeee?! I'll even get Ren to make you a giant batch of pancakes! You like pancakes, don't you?! I do, I love them! Especially if they are slathered in good ole' maple syrup!"

Ozpin clutched his mug of coffee closer to his chest and sent the young teenager a small glare, letting her know just how he felt about sharing any of the substance he was addicted to. "Absolutely not, are you insane?"

"And she's back. Thank goodness." Ren laughed at the dismayed expression that crossed her face, almost going into shock at the words she spoke on behalf of the Iscariot still resting in the infirmary, "You almost gave me a heart attack, Nora!"

"Sorry, Ren, I don't know what came over me!" Nora giggled, bonking herself on the head, sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth while crossing her eyes, something Ren has seen the girl do a million times since they were young. Unlike the others, Ren knew that Nora was an extremely insightful individual ever since he first laid eyes on her, even when she was still a child. After her parents died in the Grimm attack of Mountains Glenn, his parents had taken the orange haired girl into their home and soon after adopted her, having promised Nora's parents to protect her as they laid dying in a puddle of their own blood.

Her hyper activity was a mask to hide the hurt the girl has felt since her parents passing, though Ren and his family were the only ones who knew such a thing. Ozpin was sure to begin to suspect such a thing after hearing her speak like she did.

The large group filled into Ozpins office in a subdued manner, each lost in their own thoughts before Ozpin started tinkering with the large scroll on his desk, bringing up the camera feed of the Emerald Forest.

Many of the cameras surrounding the northern portion of the forest picked up the movement of the pack of Grimm that followed the group back from Forever Falls, showing something Ozpin had never seen before for the second time that day.

"Well... the pack of Grimm are hunting down other Grimm now and slaughtering them." The headmaster stated casually, leaning further back in his chair while sipping the still steaming liquid contained in the mug as if such a thing were an every day occurrence. "At this rate, we might have to make a new initiation for new students."

Glynda peered at the scroll, her face schooled into its usual cool visage once more. "Hmm... I guess they really ARE friendly."

Teams RWBY and JNPR had to resist the urge to palm their faces at the casual tone the two spoke about the strange pack of Grimm, though for Blake the urge was too strong to resist completely. Scratching the side of her head, Blake let out a sigh before shrugging her shoulders.

"When has anything involving Iscariot turned out normal?"


	6. Deepening Bonds

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **Chapter 6, Deepening Bonds**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to either RWBY or Bloodborne in the ways of any sort of ownership.**

 **As always, thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I hope this chapter is to your liking!**

 **Also, Fuck the Orphan of Kos. That is all.**

 **Now,**

 **Fear the Old Blood!**

 **[UPSM]**

Waking up feeling like he just finished going twenty rounds with the Orphan of Kos was not what Abel expected. As a matter of fact, he was almost positive he wouldn't be waking up whatsoever, so it came as a pleasant surprise that the first thing he laid eyes on was the smiling face of Doll.

"W...water, if you please." Abel coughed out, clutching his throat with his left hand lightly to try and ease the pain he felt. Using the Beast Roar like he did in the forest almost shredded his vocal chords completely, though his slight regeneration factor seemed to heal it up nicely.

The Doll complied with his request almost immediately, only pausing to send him another smile before doing so. 'Why is she smiling at me so?' Abel questioned himself, eyeballing his constant companion with weariness.

A glass of water was held before him, allowing him to grasp the glass with his left hand after removing it from his throat rather quickly. Promptly gulping down the vital liquid, Abel let out a sigh of relief the moment the glass was completely drained. "Tell me, did the others make it out of the forest, Doll?"

"Indeed they did, Good Hunter, and in very good health. Before we speak any further, the Good Doctor has asked me to inform him the moment you wake. Just a moment, if you will." The Doll answered, a small smile still resting on her face as she turned from the hunter to press a small red button on his bedside, summoning the Doctor from wherever he might be.

Not even a minute passed before the Doctor practically appeared out of thin air before the two, his ever present thermos of coffee in hand. Abel would have been slightly scared of the mans ridiculous speed if it wasn't for the fact that the man meant him absolutely no harm, if only for the fact that speedy opponents were always the most difficult to deal with. "I see that you are awake, fantastic! Now, how do you feel Mister Iscariot?"

Having grown used to the mans hyperactivity after a week of attending the mans history class, Abel was easily able to translate the rapid speech into an understandable sentence. "I feel like I was used as target practice for my teacher Gehrman, but I should be fine after a day or two. How long have I been under, Doctor?"

Oobleck hummed under his breath while looking over the medical information being transmitted by the devices hooked up to the Iscariot before finally answering. "You have only been unconscious for a few hours now, I was expecting you to be under for much longer. How are you even awake right now?"

"It would take far more than a Grimm of that caliber to keep me down for any length of time longer than what I was already out, Doctor Oobleck. Does everything seem to be in working order?" Abel questioned while looking at the medical equipment he was strapped up to with a critical eye, distrustful of anything of the sort due to the Healing Church and Iosefka's impostor. "Can you remove these infernal contraptions from my being, please? They are making me... slightly nervous."

With deft hands, all of the equipment was promptly removed and set to the side almost before the Iscariot could blink. "After seeing your many scars, I would have thought you wouldn't have a problem with medical equipment." Oobleck stated with a curious tone, though Abel refused to elaborate on just why he was distrustful of such things.

Only Ozpin, Glynda and Team RWBY was privy to any information on his past, the rest of the staff and students of Beacon being purposefully being left in the dark about such things due to Abel's innate distrustful nature and pure paranoia.

"'Tis something I do not wish to discuss, Doctor Oobleck, though I am grateful that you provided such care for someone such as myself. You have my thanks, but I must demand that I be released to recover on my own." Abel finally spoke after a moment of silence passed between the three conscious beings present in Beacons infirmary.

Oobleck sent a critical eye towards Abel before shrugging his shoulders and signing the discharge papers on a clipboard by Abel's bed. "If you insist, young man, though I do ask that if you are feeling unwell that you return here immediately, alright? One of the nurses here will be able to provide any medical help you might need, usually it is left up to them to take care of injured students but you were in such shape that you required the care of a certified Doctor." The green haired hyperactive man spoke in his usual garbled speech.

"Wait... where is my armor?" Abel questioned with a harsh tone, looking all around for the ashen metal-like material that usually covered his chest after noticing his torso was completely bare.

"T'was destroyed beyond repair, Good Hunter. Fret not, the Headmaster has ordered a replacement to be sent to you in the same design, though the material would not be as it was." The Doll spoke up, trying to prevent Abel from going off the deep end from being separated from his favorite armor for any length of time.

The Iscariot cared greatly for his garb, it having saved his life on more than one occasion during his time in the Dream. To be without his almost iconic armor, he considered himself vulnerable despite being able to shrug off wounds that would surely kill any lesser being easily.

A scoff was the only answer the Doll received before he finally relented and schooled his face into an impassive facade, something Gehrman taught him to do early on during his hunt. "And what length of time did he say I must wait for a replacement?"

The Doll shrugged her shoulders before offering a hand to help her favorite Hunter from the bed he was resting in, something he took without hesitation. Despite being made of porcelain, the Doll showed a surprising amount of strength as she easily hefted the silver haired vampiric teenager from his resting position without any sign of struggle.

"Mister Iscariot, before you leave, I must ask... Do you know why your Aura was fluctuating as it was?" Oobleck questioned, looking up from his position beside Cardin, who was receiving the same treatment Abel was though he was still unconscious from the blood loss he suffered.

"You... seem to be mistaken, Professor, I do not HAVE Aura." Abel finally answered, pausing in the doorway with the Doll just behind him. "How can something fluctuate if it is not present in my body?"

Oobleck scoffed at the teen before pulling out his scroll and pointing it at Abel for a moment before using his hyper speed to appear at the teenagers side. "It says right here that you do, Mister Iscariot. Our scrolls are capable of locking onto Aura to keep up with how much you use during combat class, as you know. Every being with a soul has Aura, no ands ifs or buts about it."

"...How is that even possible...?" Abel murmured to himself, staring at the scroll that clearly indicated that he did, in fact, have a pool of Aura, and a large one at that. "I must have been mistaken, Good Doctor, my apologies." Abel spoke up to the Doctor, causing the man to give him a slightly distrustful look before he nodded his head.

"Yes, you must have been mistaken. Alright, well make sure to go straight to your room and rest, no detours! Doctors orders!" The Bartholomew spoke with false joviality, clapping his hands together while his thermos of coffee floated in mid air while he did so, a testament to the mans supreme speed in all things related to movement.

Snapping his fingers, Oobleck pulled out the yellowed bone necklace from his pocket and tossed it to Abel, who caught it and held it close to his chest, stroking it almost reverently before he placed the necklace around his neck. With a nod towards the green haired Doctor, Abel turned on his heel and began his trek to the dorm room assigned to him with Doll at his side.

'What are you hiding, and why?' Oobleck questioned himself as he watched one of his latest patients leave the infirmary with a slight limp, being helped along by the strange artificial being known as 'Doll' that appeared at the school at the same time as Abel did. 'What did you mean by how is that even possible?'

 **[UPSM]**

Teams RWBY and JNPR were released from the Headmasters office close to an hour after they gave their debriefing, each having watched as the pack of Grimm that followed Abel back from Forever Falls continued to slaughter Grimm after Grimm within the Emerald Forest with rapt attention. With their disbelief temporarily suspended for such an occasion, the eight teens were privileged with watching the powerful Grimm do their work in peace, something none of them would have ever thought possible before this day.

"So, which one of the Grimm is your favorite, Weiss?" Ruby questioned, a small skip in her step as the four members of team RWBY made their way back to their dorm room after an eventful day.

The young Schnee seemed to consider the question seriously before shrugging her shoulders. "The white haired female of the group had the highest kill count out of all of them, as well as the cleanest kills of them all. However, I personally like the black haired female the best. She was relentless!"

Yang chuckled at the exuberance of the white haired heiresses answer considering it was irregular to hear praise towards anyone from the Schnee. "I liked the white haired one with the red cloak, I never considered breaking off a Grimms spikes and killing them with it. Nifty stuff right there."

Blake scoffed before giving her own opinion on the subject, "You WOULD like something like that, you brute. I liked how quick the Beta was, she didn't play with her opponents. Quick and with no movements wasted."

Yang was tempted to make a sexual innuendo out of what Blake said, but a dirty look from the feline faunus quickly stopped the words before they could properly form. The Xiao Long pouted, crossing her arms over her ample chest while looking away, not amused that Blake had known what she was going to say before she even said it.

Ruby laughed at the insult hurled at her sister, knowing that the two that made up the Bumblebee combo differed like night and day. "I don't know, Blake, I thought it was clever! Did you see how the blond haired one took out that nevermore though? I didn't even know Deathstalkers could fly that far!"

"I would hardly consider being picked up by the tail, spun around and tossed like a Frisbee flying, Ruby." Weiss sniffed, trying to ignore Yang and Blake who devolved into another childish argument over dirty jokes and when they are appropriate to tell, something Yang had absolutely no filter for.

The four continued to discuss the craziness they witnessed in the Emerald Forest for a few more moments before coming across the limping form of Abel Iscariot being supported by the Doll as the two slowly made their way to Abel's dorm room, shocking the four that he was even conscious after going through what he went through.

"Holy crap, Abel!" Ruby shouted, disappearing in a puff of rose petals from her spot in front of her team, only to reappear with her arms wrapped tightly around the Iscariots waist. "Your awake! We were so worried about you, are you alright?!"

Abel had to forcibly suppress the urge to lash out at the young girl for invading his personal space in such a manner, almost failing to do so before he noticed that it was Ruby and not an enemy doing so.

"Ruby, please remove yourself from my person." Abel calmly stated, wincing slightly at the harsh grip the young girl had on him, "I do not like being touched."

Ruby had the decency to look ashamed before quickly removing her arms from around the much taller teenagers hips before blushing heavily at seeing him walk around shirtless. "Sorry Abel, I couldn't help it... why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

The Vileblood knight sighed before speaking the obvious. "I would be, but they are all in my room and my armor had to be disposed of."

The young Rose nodded her head in acceptance of the answer provided before looking abashed at invading the silver haired teenagers personal space. "Sorry, I know you don't like being touched but... I was really, really worried, Abel. That was really brave, what you did."

Abel was taken aback at the praise coming from the young girl before a small smile crossed his face, an honest smile. "Thank you, Little Ruby, it means much to hear such praise come from you."

Ruby beamed up at the giant of a teenager before beconning her team closer, the other three picking up their pace to comply with their leaders silent command. Yang looked very uncomfortable being around someone she knew could snap her like a twig, something that Abel was quick to pick up on.

Weiss and Blake, however, seemed to be relieved at seeing the Vileblood walking amongst the living once again. Weiss marched right up to the silver haired teenager and punched him in the ribs lightly, her cheeks puffed out while she glared up into Abels glowing crimson eyes. "If you worry us like that again, good reason or not, I will find a way to make your life miserable, do you hear me Iscariot?"

Abel stared down at the small teenaged heiress in disbelief before his shoulders started rising and falling quickly, indicating silent laughter before he nodded his head. "As you wish, Mistress." He spoke, sarcasm dripping from his words like liquid, though Weiss could tell he meant it as a joke.

Blake just reached up and patted the man on the shoulder, looking almost as uncomfortable as Yang but for a completely different reason. "You owe us a big apology for almost dying, and I will take nothing less than the most expensive seafood dinner you can afford as compensation." She said simply, her tone as blank as it usually was. Baleful crimson peered into cool amber before the Iscariot nodded his head in the affirmative.

"I sincerely apologize for worrying you ladies and I will... attempt... to not put myself in that position again. However... I hate to inform you that I have no means of even purchasing my own dinner, let alone something as nice as a seafood dish, Miss Belladonna." Abel admitted, reaching his right hand up to scratch under his chin in thought.

Tilting his head to the side, the silver haired teenager began to ponder on how he might even go about earning the currency used in the land of remnant as he doubted the shopkeepers in Vale would take blood echoes.

Snapping his fingers, Abel finally had a brilliant idea, a smile once again appearing on his usually stoic face. "Would you four ladies like to accompany this weary hunter to his room? I might have something that could, hopefully, earn myself a bit of dosh if I am not mistaken."

Looking between each other, Blake, Ruby and Weiss nodded in the affirmative while Yang shook her head no. "Sorry, big guy, I think I am going to hit the hay. I'm beat."

Both the Doll and Abel tilted their heads to the side in confusion, not understanding her words in the least. "If you are tired, would it not be smarter to rest instead of attacking hay?"

Yang face palmed and shook her head, still not believing that Abel didn't understand common lingo. "You are hopeless, Iscariot. Don't be out late, ya'll, we are still going to Vale in the morning."

With those parting words, Yang walked away from the five gathered in the halls with a wave over her shoulders, causing Ruby to send a worried gaze towards her usually exuberant sister. "I wonder what's wrong with Yang, she almost NEVER goes to bed this early, even after she completely wrecked that Junior guys club..."

Weiss and Blake shared a look of understanding before they changed the subject, bringing Ruby out of her pondering in hopes of distracting her from Yang's attempt of distancing herself from the Iscariot and his really tall companion. "Don't worry, Ruby, I am sure she just needs to take a nice, long shower after crawling through Forever Falls today." Weiss murmured, her eyes following Yang as she disappeared around the corner at the end of the hallway the group found themselves standing in.

"So what did you want to show us, Abel?" Blake finally questioned as the five started to walk slowly towards Abels dorm room at a slow pace to accommodate the still sore Hunter.

"I have a very large collection of coins that at one time was used as currency and I am sure that some might be made of precious metals. I was hoping one of you three could help me find someone to purchase them, and in turn I will pay you a fee in exchange." Abel admitted, scratching his chest lightly as they came to a stop in front of his dorm room. The glowing carmine scars itched something fierce, something Abel was used to in unnaturally healed wounds. Despite bearing more scars than any other he knew except for maybe Eileen, he was still unused to the crawling feeling that came from the healed wounds.

Doll fished a scroll out of a small pouch hanging off of her hip before holding it up to the door, causing the heavy metal barricade to slide away, thus allowing the five to pour into the spacious room without further adieu.

The three members of team RWBY present expected the room to be spacious due to the fact that Abel had the room to himself, but they were not prepared for him to have such a large room all to himself seeing as his room was close to double the size of the one the four shared.

"Why do YOU get such a big room!" Ruby pouted, stomping her foot and crossing her arms childishly in false anger, taking note of the somewhat decorated room and the exotic weapons that lined the walls, not to mention the crimson bottles resting on his desk as well as a map of lands she was sure she had never laid eyes upon.

Abel shrugged his shoulders demurely after pausing through his digging in his wardrobe, not knowing the answer to the young girls question in the least. "I haven't the slightest of ideas, Little Ruby, though I am rather happy with it."

With a sigh, Abel removed a frilly black dress shirt before quickly slipping it on and closing the golden clasps that held it shut before slipping a black waist coat with golden embroidery on over it, something that was given to him by the Queen of the Vilebloods herself. Woven of the highest quality silk he had ever owned, the small vest was one of his nicest articles of clothing, something he had never worn into combat.

Letting her curiosity get the better of her, the black haired leader of team RWBY began to explore the room, drinking in the sights and committing them to memory as well as she could before she began to ogle the strange weapons hanging precariously from their stands drilled into the walls.

"Dear Oum, is that a circular saw... on a stick?" Weiss questioned incredulously, peering at the weapon that caught her attention with a critical eye.

Abel looked over his shoulder as he grabbed one of his spare black dusters, a small smile on his face as he remembered the first time he laid eyes upon the beast of a weapon. "That, my dear, is known as the Whirligig saw. Before you inquire, no, I did not name it. That is a very... VERY brutal piece of weaponry, that is."

"Whirligig saw? What a preposterous name..." Weiss scoffed, eying the weapon even harder than before as if trying to discern why one would name it as such.

"When initiated, the four blades will rotate at extreme speeds, absolutely shredding whatever may be in its path. When used in its first form, it makes a great cudgel." Abel admitted while checking himself over before looking to the Doll, who nodded her head in acceptance of his current outfit.

Ruby gasped before jumping up and down, pointing to one of the more strange looking weapons hanging on the wall. "Oh, Oh, what is THIS one called?" The petite fifteen year old questioned, pointing to a wicked and uneven looking twin blade resting apart from the rest of the weaponry.

"That... that is the Rakuyo, made in the same land as the Chikage. It was wielded by a fellow Hunter, one... one that I wish I got to know properly before her early demise." Abel admitted, his tone growing somber as he remembered the beautiful woman that Doll was made to resemble. "Out of all of the Hunters I have ever faced down, Maria was, without a doubt, the most stunning and deadly woman to exist."

The Doll looked down sadly before a small smile appeared on her lips at the inadvertent compliment, knowing that the subject of Maria was a sore one for Abel as well as herself. 'So he considers me stunning, does he?' Doll thought to herself, 'Tis a good thing I cannot blush, surely I would be red in the face with such words.'

A bittersweet smile crossed both Doll and Abel's face, something that the three teenaged females caught on to.

"What happened to her?" Ruby questioned, not understanding why Abel would have such a tone in his voice while remembering someone he considered stunning, which was extremely high praise coming from him if she was right.

"... I do not wish to speak about that, if you please, Little Ruby." Abel eventually admitted, sitting down heavily on the edge of his bed before reaching under the comfortable mattress to retrieve a rather large chest. Pulling it out with a slight hiss, the Vileblood bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood and swiped it across the glowing rune that held the chest shut, causing the rune to fade away and the chest to snap open.

Inside of the chest was a ridiculous amount of brilliantly shinning coins and even a few unidentifiable stones, not to mention a plethora of different styles of jewelry ranging from broaches to rings embedded with multiple different gem stones, all of which he had collected throughout his time of the Dream and even the Nightmare. "Tell me, do any of you think these would be fit to sell?"

Weiss walked away from the grotesque looking saw to get a better look at the coins, letting out a loud gasp when she laid eyes upon the shining coins. "Abel, where did you get these?!"

"When you wander as much as I have, Young Mistress, you tend to pick up a few trinkets." Abel shrugged, not knowing that the coins he had collected were worth far more than just a way to light the way through the darkness. "Why do you ask?"

"These are gold! Pure gold! Holy Oum, you're rich!" Weiss exclaimed after snatching one of the coins out of the chest to get a better look at the glistening metal disks, "You could purchase a dust mine and the mountain on top of it with all of this!"

"Is... is that a good thing?" Abel questioned, not understanding the value of a dust mine, though purchasing a mountain was not something he would waste valuable resources on if he were honest. While he knew that jewelry was sought after, he did not know to what extent. Even Queen Annalise did not bother with such trivialities, something he found out after he made the mistake of trying to present one of the items to her.

Abel remembered the day he made that mistake all too well, a day he would regret to the end of his days. 'Why did she think I was asking her to wed me, T'was only meant as a gift...' The Iscariot thought to himself, a frown marring his face as he did.

"Yes, you nimrod, it is a very good thing. Goodness gracious, you baffle me." Weiss murmured, not understanding how the silver haired giant of a teenager didn't know the value of gold. "And this jewelry... Dear Oum, I would KILL for one of these items!"

Abel scratched the side of his head in confusion, not knowing how any of the different pieces of jewelry were worth anything. After all, growing up in the Hinterlands and later traveling to a beast infested Yharnam did not give him the knowledge of how such gaudy and unnecessary items contained any worth, especially considering that they were only purely cosmetic. The only reason he even bothered gathering any of the items was because he liked the way they gleamed in the darkness, or maybe it was even during his brief stints of insanity, he couldn't recall clearly those moments after all.

Ruby and Blake felt their jaws drop at seeing a chest full of loot, not bothering to fix their expressions as they drank in the sight of so much gold being present in one place. "Abel... be honest with me... are you a Pirate? That is a LOT of booty." Ruby questioned in a small, disbelieving voice, her mouth finally snapping shut when he tilted his head to the side curiously.

"... Just what is a Pirate, and what does that have to do with posteriors?"


	7. Bloodkin

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **Chapter 7, Bloodkin**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to either RWBY or Bloodborne in the ways of any sort of ownership.**

 **As always, thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I hope this chapter is to your liking!**

 **Now,**

 **Fear the Old Blood!**

 **[UPSM]**

"So, whats in the bottle big guy?" Ruby questioned, having been making jokes with Weiss and Blake at Abels' expense on his lack of common knowledge, something the silver haired teen took in stride once he realized they were simply jesting and not attempting to be hurtful.

Abel hummed under his breath before standing from his seated position and reached towards the bottle before placing it on a high shelf, out of reach of the three members of Team RWBY present in his living quarters. "A specialty drink from Yharnam, something I only have a few bottles left of. It is nothing to concern yourself with, little Ruby."

The young Rose knew that Abel was hiding something from the way he was behaving about the bottle of crimson liquid, something the scythe wielder vocalized, "You know, alcohol isn't something to really be ashamed of, Yang is in love with the stuff."

"I suppose so, but either way, it is not something I should be leaving around." Abel shrugged, still deflecting the question to the best of his abilities. "So Weiss, I take it you know where I can exchange these coins?"

Filling a draw-string bag full of the golden and silver coins, Abel proceeded to toss the loaded bag towards the white haired Schnee, who caught the purse without looking away from the glowing runes etched into quite a few different sources throughout Abel's room.

"Yes, it shouldn't be an issue whatsoever. What are these symbols I am seeing?"

"Um... what symbols?" Ruby questioned, looking at where Weiss was pointing, though there was nothing that the Rose could see. "There isn't anything there, Weiss..."

"Believe it or not, Ruby, there are quite a few where she is pointing, I just thought I was the only one who could see them..." Abel murmured before sending a critical glance in Weiss's direction. "Those are Caryll runes, which work in tandem with one another to produce many different effects ranging from explosions, or even combinations that can increase your physical resistance to damage from fire or blunt force trauma."

Ruby and Blake perked up at the admission, each studying the blank pages on Abel's desk with a cruciual eye. The female Faunus could see the faint outlines of glowing symbols, though they were not clear images by any means while Ruby couldn't even see the outlines of the Caryll Runes.

Weiss, however, could see the images in all of their otherworldly glory, each glowing completely different colors and in varying degrees of intensity.

"So what does it mean that only Weiss can see them?" Blake questioned, looking away from the page after she began to feel discomfort behind her eyes.

The Schnee was not paying attention to either of the two, instead focusing on the Caryll runes to the point that if she closed her eyes, she could see the beginnings of a few of them in her minds eye. "This one here is very, very familiar." The Schnee murmured under her breath, allowing her fingers to trace the rune almost reverently. "It feels like it is almost calling for me..."

"That... that is VERY strange indeed, Weiss... that rune is very personal to me and quite a few of those I've left behind. That is the Blood Rapture rune, something that only those of Vileblood can see even beyond sight." Abel admitted, sharing a somewhat loaded look with Weiss, his mind still racing over the implications.

"Weiss, this will be a strange question... but you have not come into contact with my blood at any point, right?" Abel questioned, almost hopefully, only for a strange look to cross Weiss's face.

"...As a matter of fact, I am almost positive that I have, a drop got in my left eye when you started jerking in your sleep during the Bullhead flight back to Beacon... why?" Weiss questioned, feeling slightly nervous at the strange question, "I'm... not going to get sick, am I?"

Abel sighed deeply before he turned to the other two females in the room outside of Weiss and Doll, "Did my blood come into contact with either of you?"

Ruby shook her head rapidly, blanching slightly at the question, almost going green around the gills at the thought of such a thing happening. Blake, however, paused and then paled drastically before she slowly nodded her head.

"It got in my mouth..." Blake murmured low enough that only Abel was able to pick up the sound, causing the tall teenager to sigh even deeper.

"This is not good. Not good in the least. Ruby... do you mind giving Blake, Weiss and I some privacy?" Abel questioned, sitting down heavily on his bed while holding his head in his heads, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his blood had spread, even if it was completely unintentional, as well as trying to think of the ramifications of such a thing happening.

Ruby looked somewhat sad at being asked to leave, but a promise from Abel to spend more time with her as soon as he could had her leaving the room easily. Weiss sat down in the chair next to the bed while Blake sat down at the other end of the bed, each looking at the Iscariot while he tried to gather his thoughts.

"Do you mind telling me what this is all about?" Blake finally questioned after a few moments of silence, causing the crimson eyed Vileblood to look up after being broken from his reverie.

"We are Born by the Blood, Made Men by the Blood, Undone by the Blood. Fear the Old Blood. This was an adage spoken by Provost Willem, the first and last Head of Byrgenwerth. He was one of the men who would later found an institute who studied the effect of blood ministrations, transfusions and studies using the blood found deep within the ruins beneath the city of Yharnam..." Abel began the tale, knowing that with such things and theories, it was always best to start at the beginning.

"The effect of what they designated 'Old Blood' would not be evident at first, outside of the almost inhumane boost in strength, agility, perception and other bodily functions. These evident effects would later lead to a Schism in Byrgenwerth. Laurence, one of the members who disagreed with Provost Willem would denounce his ties with Byrgenwerth and then found the Healing Church... an organization whose sole purpose was to experiment on the entirety of the city through... what did they call it... Ah, 'Blood Healing'."

Weiss and Blake seemed to be paying attention closely enough, though he could see the confusion written on their faces as plain as day. He turned to Doll to see what she was doing, only to see her listening to the tale closely as well. Thinking back, Abel couldn't be certain that she even knew how the entire thing began from a Hunters perspective, Gehrman was never known to be very talkative of such matters.

"Before Laurence, however, there was another Schism in Byrgenwerth... one that I think was far more profound. Lady Maria, the first apprentice to the man who taught me everything I know, found a much older, and much more powerful blood deep within the catacombs, something her family had been searching high and low for." The Iscariot spoke the tale with a distant look in his eyes, which had been lowered some time after he first began to speak.

"The Blood of the ancestors of my Queen Annalise, Arianna, Lady Maria and now myself. This line was gifted with what would be termed... vampiric, I believe the term here is, in nature. The imbibing of blood was a common thing in Yharnam, but the Royal Line and the old noble lines of Yharnam had been partaking in such affairs long before the Healing Church existed."

Weiss seemed to pale a bit further while Blake seemed to take the information in stride. She had already known Abel imbibed blood through a special brew of pungent wine, though she had no idea that he shared blood with foreign royalty. The way he spoke of it sounded more along the lines of a blood adoption rather than being born into said line.

"So what does all of that even mean?" Weiss questioned, her face eventually schooled into a blank mask to hide either her confusion or disgust, it was a toss up between the two Abel was sure.

"It means that if even a minute amount was imbibed by either of you, it would take hold and slowly grow in strength. Usually, those who ingested my blood were shortly thereafter slaughtered, but for obvious reasons that is not an option..." Abel trailed off, "Enhanced speed and strength, heightened night vision, enhanced musculature and strengthened bones... and a thirst for blood."

The Schnee heiress was almost as pale as the Paleblood Hunter at this point while Blake continued to maintain her facade rather well. "We aren't going to be averse to holy symbols or burst into flames in the sunlight, are we?" The Belladonna questioned, her ears hidden behind her bow slightly twitching every so often.

"... Why in Oedeons name would that happen?" The silver haired Iscariot questioned, almost as if offended, "I am perfectly capable of walking in daylight without combustion. And 'Holy Symbols'?"

Abel scoffed before shaking his head in the negative, "You only have a thirst for blood and become far stronger than previously. My Queen hinted that her lifespan might have been increased largely, but I am unsure if that would apply to myself or even either of you unless you go through a complete transformation."

Weiss and Blake nodded at the information and seemed to go into shutdown mode, trying to process the things they just learned. "But what does that have to do with these... Runes?" Blake questioned, glancing at a particularly brutal looking claw mark out of the corner of her eyes, noticing in sharp detail the etchings unlike many of the other symbols she could faintly make out.

"Only those with Insight can get a glimpse at the etchings, let alone make them out in fine detail. You would have to have universal... cosmic knowledge of the esoteric, or come into contact with enough beings that exist beyond the plane of natural existence such as this one."

"That doesn't make ANY sense." Weiss huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, "What are you even saying right now?"

With a sigh, Abel turned to the Doll for some help, but she seemed to be off in her own little world at the moment. Clearing his throat, the Iscariot continued where he left off, trying to explain as best as he could, "Things exist beyond rational thought. Sight beyond Sight. Seeing things with your mind rather than your eyes. Once you gain knowledge of the Eldritch Truth, you will see things that will drive you insane if you let it."

Abel removed his journal of his time in Yharnam before flipping towards the end of the book, showing the two girls the corpses of the Amygdalla, Ebrietas, Kos and Mergo's wet nurse. Beside the pictures of each creature lay the description of each Great Ones attack patterns and known weaknesses, information that Abel thought would be worth writing down in case he ever began to forget his experiences.

"These are but a small few of the Great Ones, though I have no doubt they will not bother these lands. I have been here long enough to have felt even the slightest presence of anything... More than normal," Abel noted, "Creatures of Grimm, notwithstanding those that have allied themselves with me, release nothing but negative emotion most likely absorbed from the Humanoid beings, whether Human or Faunus, but they do NOT release the same horrifying presence of even some of the weaker creatures I have faced."

Taking a deep breath, the silver haired Paleblood Hunter leaned back and began to fiddle with a coin that had been left out. Times spent throwing the coins at a door that would not open, even if it should have raced and disappeared from his mind, reminding him of times that he spend not so sane.

Tonight certainly felt like a night that would lead to him feeling not so sane.


	8. ROYAL

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **Chapter 8, ROYAL**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to either RWBY or Bloodborne. Stop asking me.**

 **As always, thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I hope this chapter is to your liking!**

 **Now,**

 **Fear the Old Blood!**

 **[UPSM]**

Weiss and Blake were not having a good night. After having been told the story of Abel Iscariot and the many different factions that waged war over ancient blood, the two felt as if their world could be shattered with any new revelations.

The blood now shared between the three would only grow in strength as time continued to pass, and the many traits that Abel gained from imbibing the Queen of Cainhursts' blood would begin to show themselves in the Schnee and Belladonna. Blake seemed to take the news the best, considering her Faunus heritage and extra ears atop her head.

The snow princess, however, began to hyperventilate and only began to calm down after Abel gave the teenager a small goblet of Pungent Wine. The white haired heiress turned her nose up at first, but the small, unquenchable thirst that she had been suffering from for days had reared its ugly head with a vengeance, prompting her to take the decorative cup with a small amount of gratitude.

Her first sip burned her throat, the thick liquid carrying small hints of copper and alcohol. The second sip was better, and from the third sip she began to take larger and larger gulps until the glass was dry.

A small blush forced its way unto her pale face, either from the small amount of alcohol or from embarrassment the three other beings in the room could not tell.

"That... was not as bad as I thought..." Weiss finally admitted before she began to nervously flick a coin between her fingers after retrieving one from the pouch Abel had given her to get appraised.

Blake was too lost in thought to comment on the fact that the Schnee had enjoyed drinking blood infused wine, though she was sure to make a snide comment about it at a later date. The Faunus was still lost in thought as Weiss finally excused herself from Abel's and Doll's shared room.

The Paleblood felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, only to be replaced by a much heavier burden to bear. The Iscariot stood from his position on his bed to wave a hand in front of Blakes face, only to not receive a reaction whatsoever. Seeing that the Faunus wouldn't be moving any time soon, Abel made his way to the entrance way to turn out the over head lights, casting the room in heavy darkness. The only light filtered in through the blinds, reflecting off of the downward cast eyes like a felines, letting the Doll and Abel know that Blake was so lost in thought that she wasn't blinking her eyes.

"I am truly sorry, Blake, for tainting you with my foul blood." Abel murmured out as he eased himself into his bed, making sure that his feet were far away from the Faunus occupying the foot of his bed. "I will take responsibility for my mistake and help you through this process, and afterwards if you want nothing to do with me, I would understand completely."

 **[UPSM]**

The following day was rather slow for the Iscariot. Classes seemed to pass by extra slow, and Professor Goodwitch refused to allow him to participate in Combat Training due to the wounds he received from Forever Falls, despite the fact that he was fully healed after a good nights rest and a few blood vials.

"This is absolutely preposterous." Abel grumbled under his breath, allowing a small huff to escape his lips as he watched Ruby wipe the floor with some nameless, faceless scrubs that had the misfortune of being called down to fight the hyperactive Rose.

"Oh, don't start whining." Weiss groused out while keeping an eye on her team leader, a few ideas for combination attacks coming to her easily for when the Rose and Schnee trained together in team combos. "You will survive a day without combat."

"Are you sure about that Weiss? He acts like he can't stand normality." Yang spoke coolly, refusing to turn to face the silver haired teen when addressing him. The sound of leather gloves straining was the only response the Iscariot gave, having tightened his fist until it felt as if his gloves would be ripped asunder from the pressure at the seams.

Abel finally turned his head almost mechanically before giving Yang a cold glance that could have frozen flames. "I do not know what your problem with me is, nor do I really find it all that important. However, these snide comments of yours are really... grating on my nerves." Abel retorted, "Though I shouldn't expect much from a ruffian brawler who uses brute force instead of their minds."

"Okay, ASSHOLE, how about we settle this in the ring?" Yang spat, her violet eyes flashing crimson as she fully faced the silver haired Hunter, only to flinch when she found equally glowing crimson eyes staring her down just as fiercely.

"It... would be my pleasure." The Hunter responded with a sickly sweet tone, the grin on his face showing just how much he would love to knock the blond haired Huntress down a few pegs.

"Professor Glynda, Is it alright if I face off against Iscariot next?" Yang questioned after Ruby finished blasting the poor fool out of the ring with Crescent Roses' sniper form. The dust kicked up by the impact was enough to cloud the vision of a few students but quickly disippated after a minute application of Aura from Glynda.

"Despite the fact that he is wounded, you still wish to fight him?" The lime eyed professor asked, curious as to the tension between the two that had been present since the Hunter joined the student body.

"T'wouldn't be fair otherwise, Professor." Abel answered in her place, easily rising from his seat in preperation to be called down to the combat arena.

"No... No, the match can wait until you are fully healed, Mister Iscariot, no ands, ifs, or buts." Glynda finally replied with steel in her tone, letting the two know that her mind would not be changed on the matter.

Another glare was shared between the two as the other three members of Team RWBY looked worriedly between themselves.

'This isn't good...' Ruby thought worriedly to herself, unsure as to why Yang even had an attitude with the Iscariot. She couldn't blame the Hunter for finally having enough of her snark, but that did not mean she wouldn't cheer for her sister either way.

She may be friends with the Iscariot, but she was blood related to Yang and blood easily comes before friends.

Blake and Weiss, however, felt that Yang was taking whatever grudge she had with the Iscariot too far. Neither girl was aware of just why Yang disliked the teen, nor did they really care. They may be teammates, but they had both grown close to the Hunter and didn't want to see the feud between their two friends continue any further than it already has.

The rest of the day had passed by much faster for Abel, who had power walked out of the final class of the day to get away from the whispers about the up and coming grudge match between the Xiao Long and the Iscariot.

'Let them whisper, they know nothing.' The silver haired teenager thought to himself as he grabbed the Burial Blade and Rakuyo from their resting places in his room before heading towards the Emerald Forest and the Workshop the resides within said Forest. On his way out, he passed by Team RWBY, though he did not bother to acknowledge the group as they seemed taken with whatever conversation they were having amongst one another.

It was only when the first Beowulf made its way from the depths of the forest and into the path of the Iscariot did his mood start to improve.

 **[UPSM]**

The weekend was spent going over the many weapons and items within the workshop proper, though it was hardly the only thing the Paleblood had done with his time. Many times, if one were to have stumbled into the Forest, they would have seen the silver haired hunter in the presence of the Humanoid Grimm, especially the white haired Beta that seemed to gravitate towards him with every chance she could take.

It was discerning, Abel later learned, that he seemed to get along with the very monsters that wrought destruction upon the living more so than the living themselves. Of course, no conversations were had, but the unspoken bond between the Paleblood and his pack of Grimm followers was strong enough to wordlessly and seamlessly work together as a cohesive killing unit against the Grimm that took the form of Beasts.

If he didn't know better, he would have said that he knew each and every member of his pack almost personally.

The blond haired, orange veined Grimm kept trying to prank him.

The white haired, black veined Beta wanted to protect him from everything.

The black haired, pale veined Grimm wanted to stare at the sky for hours without moving while his 'thick' friend would sit next to him and growl out a conversation only the two of them seemed to understand.

These were no standard, ordinary Grimm and Abel knew it.

It was on Sunday that the Iscariot began to gather up his items to head back to Beacon before nightfall, and his pack would hardly leave him alone long enough for him to finish his work.

"Please, Beta, I only have a few Vials left to refine before I leave." Abel admonished lightly when his Beta proceeded to bump her hip against him at a vital part of the process of refining his own blood for later use.

Gehrman, it seemed, kept records from his time in with the Healing Church, to the point that Abel now had the refinement process for not only Blood Vials, but even Pungent Cocktails and BeastBlood Pellets.

The whining growl that his Beta let out was pathetic, but he continued to stir the boiling blood while adding in the black herbs in his left hand slowly. After just a few more minutes of stirring, the boiling came to an abrupt halt, letting the tall Hunter of Nightmares know that his blood was now ready to be drawn into syringes and vials.

While it was uneventful, it was a very fulfilling weekend for the Hunter.

If only he knew just what kind of weekend Team RWBY had.


	9. Crimson Lotus

**Under a Pale shattered moon**

 **Chapter 9, Crimson Lotus [Solar Heart]**

 **I do not own anything pertaining to either RWBY or Bloodborne. Stop asking me.**

 **I am very sorry for the long delay on chapter 9, I have had a hectic schedule between writing Exalted and dealing with my life outside of writing. I can see that I have made quite a few mistakes in both stories now that I have taken an extended break and have read both stories with fresh eyes as a reader and not the writer, mistakes I plan on correcting in the future as I continue to grow as an author and person.**

 **[UPSM]**

Abel was not expecting to see Yang hanging outside of his room after returning to his dorm, the many blood vials within his medical case rattling as he stalked closer. Watching the blond with weary eyes, the Paleblood Hunter came to a halt a few feet outside of her fists range, knowing that her right hook was only second to the stake driver after being fully extended.

"Can I help you with something, Xiao Long?" Abel questioned after a few tense seconds of being stared down by the lilac eyed fighter, his slightly lilted voice muffled by the leather facemask he wore to filter the smell of curing blood. While the vials were mandatory for the survival of any rational Hunter, that did not mean that the creation of said objects was in any way, shape or form pleasant.

Yang stiffened her upper lip before nodding her head, motioning her head towards the door she stood before. "We need to talk."

Abel nodded his head but made no motion to open his dorm, causing the blond to huff before crossing her arms under her bust. "Well?"

"Well what?" Came the confused response of Abel, who did not understand that she wished to be let into his room so that the conversation wouldn't be overheard. "You wished to speak, so let us speak."

"Not here you di-... Somewhere more private... please?" Yang responded through a clenched jaw as her hands tightened into fists before they unclenched just as quickly. "I promise to not attack you or even remove my arms from behind my back if that is what your scared of."

Abel let out a small chortle before shaking his head in the negative, his silver hair covering his scarred eye as it splayed from the motion. "Do not misconstrue my caution for fear, Xiao Long. Since you have asked nicely, however, I suppose I can humor you."

Abel moved past the blond before removing his Scroll from his inner coat pocket, purposefully turning his back to her as a way of showing that his words rang true. Yang tightened her jawline once more at the blatant showing of disregard but withheld from speaking until she was sure the conversation she wanted to have wasn't overheard.

The door to his rather spacious dormitory was opened, giving the two access to the inner confines of the secondary workshop that Abel called his home.

Yang eyeballed the many different weapons that lined only one of the walls before turning her attention back to the silver haired Hunter who was removing the blood vials from his storage case and storing them in a separate area.

The two remained silent as Abel continued to retrieve different specialty items from his person before placing them in their proper storage space, ranging from wickedly pointed throwing knives laced with poison to his Beast Blood Pellets left over from his time in Yharnam. Quite a few times Yang motioned to speak but cut herself off each time Abel turned to face her in response, almost as if she continued to forget the reason she was there each time their eyes met.

After growing tired of the strange silence between the two, Abel took a seat at his work desk and motioned for her to take a seat on the edge of his bed, a conflicted look on his face as the two continued to ignore the proverbial elephant in the room.

"I've... I need to apologize." Yang eventually got out, having to stop multiple times to gather herself, despite how little words she needed to speak. "I don't have a good reason to dislike you, but I have a reason that makes sense to me."

Abel nodded his head and crossed his arms over his chest, looking downwards in thought before speaking up. "And that reasoning?"

Yang turned to look from the window instead of looking into eyes the same shade as her mothers, finding that the moon was a much better object to stare at as she gathered her thoughts. The more Yang tried to speak, though, the tighter her throat became. "It's your eyes, the way you carry yourself... You remind me of someone I have been hunting for, someone who walked out on me when I was still just a baby. I was only reminded of Uncle Qrow's stories about... Her when I saw how many scars you have and the way your Doll talked about you. Before she... well, I don't think I need to give you the specifics, but needless to say, you could be my biological Mothers male clone if his stories are true, personality wise anyway."

"I see..." Abel murmured thoughtfully while reaching up to remove the leather mask around his face, stripping the article of protective clothing from hugging his pale flesh. Her reasoning made sense, at least in a way.

Abel carried himself as a seasoned killer would, especially considering he was just that. The fact that Yang was able to hone in on such a thing instinctively spoke volumes of her survival instincts. It also spoke of how her biological mother carried herself, as well. Of the many different Huntsmen that Abel had seen in the scant few months spent attending Beacon, not a single one bore the killing intent that Abel had grown used to seeing in Hunters. Perhaps it was due to the nature of the prey that Huntsmen hunted, but the lack of conflict between organizations or military forces has lulled the many different fighters into a strangely false sense of security.

Should many of the students be forced to fight against more skilled Human or Faunus opponents, only those of the later generations would pose even the slightest of threats.

His eyes, however, were another story all together. "What sort of issue is there with my eyes?"

Yang gave him a considering look before reaching into her shirt to remove what appeared to be a photograph. When she began to reach for her chest area, however, Abel was quick to snap his eyes to remain locked with her own. Yang gave Abel a look of consideration before removing a photograph from between her shirt and bra.

"Take a good look, bub, because this is the only time I am letting that picture leave my hands willingly." Yang was hesitant to let the photograph leave her hands, but seeing as Abel had been kind enough to hear her out instead of telling her to leave right off the bat, she was willing to at least explain herself and hopefully mend their fragile friendship before she could fully burn the bridge between the two.

Instead of answering, Abel turned his gaze downwards to face the photograph being held delicately between his gloved fingers before he felt his throat grow a bit drier. When he continued to stare as if he were looking at a lost friend, Yang began to become more than slightly suspicious.

"The way you are looking at that picture makes me think you have seen her before..." Yang all but growled out as her eyes flickered from purple to red, only for her to stop herself from lashing out and demanding answers. Nothing good would come from trying to beat the answers out of a man that has strode through as much blood as veteran Huntsmen, despite her confidence in her ability to get the drop on him.

"T'would be an impossibility, but I once knew a woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to her." Abel eventually admitted before turning to his desk and removing the journal dedicated to his journey through Yharnam. Flipping to one of the ending pages, Abel traced his thumb over the still pictograph that was stuck to the page before offering it to Yang along with her own photograph.

Taking the photo and journal from Abel with a quickness, Yang allowed her eyes to quickly dart between the two photographs before lowering both to her lap. "Who is this...?"

Abel smiled ruefully as he glanced over to the pictograph, almost losing himself in thought as two sets of crimson eyes stared back from two different figures. Abel could be seen on the left with the Evelyn and Reiterpallash on either side of his waist while his companion had no such obvious weapon on display. He was still proudly donning the garb and armor of a Knight in the service of the Queen, though there were quite a few spots of blood dotting the lavish clothing and silver plates. The photograph was taken after the battle between Henryk and Eileen as a commemoration of the two surviving the fight.

The old Hunting partner of Father Gascoigne was a terrible foe to face alone, Abel knew as much from how far the mans reputation proceeded him. When he stumbled across the fight between Eileen and Henryk in the Oedeon Cemetery, Abel was quick to join the side of Eileen who had been kind enough to offer Abel many different tricks and tips to survive his first night of the Hunt.

The battle between the three had almost went in Henryk's favor, but the Bone Marrow Ash that was thrown into his eyes by Eileen finally tipped the scale, allowing the two to triumph over the blood-drunk legend of a bygone Hunt.

Breaking from his reverie, Abel turned his attention back to the pictograph and photograph held in either of his hands, doing his best to drown out the large amount of regret that continued to linger in the back of his mind.

A different set of aged Crimson eyes stared back at the camera from behind a disheveled curtain of wavy black hair, a small smile etched upon a weary face lined with wrinkles. Despite looking nearly twice the age of the woman in the photograph owned by Yang, there was an uncanny resemblance between the two women that Abel couldn't quite label a coincidence with any amount of certainty or confidence.

"A dusty old Crow that I had the pleasure of fighting along side thrice. Her name was Eileen, and she was one of the most fearsome women I have ever been graced to see at work." Abel admitted while doing his best not to think about the final time he saw the skilled killer. "She is long gone, now, dreaming the dream we all longed for. She paid the price of freedom twice and was only remembered by her tombstone."

Yang couldn't help but visibly flinch upon hearing the epithet given to the woman by Abel, going so far as to questioning him on its meaning. "A... dusty old Crow?"

Abel stood from his chair before walking towards the closet containing most of his clothing and armored bits before rummaging through the many different pieces. After a few seconds, Abel let out a small 'huzzah' before removing an object hidden far behind everything else, cradling it as if it were one of the most precious objects in his possession.

"Yes, a dusty, old Crow." Abel repeated before revealing the mask that Eileen once wore, its large, beak-like protrusion giving Yang a good idea on just why Eileen was known as a Crow. "She was a predecessor, a friend and teacher of mine, someone who deserved far better than the ending she received. If possible, I wish I could have saved her from her fate."

"You almost sound like you loved her..." Yang trailed off awkwardly, finding that her anger was disappeared the longer she spoke with the silver haired Hunter. While he certainly wasn't trying to change Yang's mind that he was a killer, it was the way he spoke to her that caused her judgment of him to lessen by a large margin.

Despite the fact that every inch of her body crawled the first time she saw him and that her fight or flight instincts told her to get the hell out of dodge, he was not an immediate threat to either her sister or herself. Ruby liked him well enough, especially considering the fact that he didn't hold her young age against her and went as far as giving her permission to steal some of his techniques so long as she put her own spin on them.

Her partner in crime, Blake, seemed to not mind him either, though it was hard to tell what went on in the mind of the Belladonna during most moments. Knowing the background that Blake had growing up, she would be a good judge on whether or not Abel was a terrible person. So far, she seemed willing to vouch that he was not a pervert or a creep after snagging his Scroll when he wasn't paying attention to the device and scanning his browser history.

She was also willing to vouch that she doubted he knew what else a Scroll could do besides open doors after seeing that he had not answered a single call he received or opened a single text from any of the members of Team RWBY, JNPR or surprisingly the leader of Team CVFY.

A small bark of laughter followed by the shaking of his head was the response Yang received, a bitter laugh that almost made her think of her dad when the past was brought up. "What I felt for Eileen was pity and remorse, if anything. She was abandoned after her duties were fulfilled, yet she continued to fight to save a city from itself so stepped in blood that in ran through the streets in rivers..."

"How... how did she go?" Yang's voice was thick, not quite strained as Abel's was, but she was giving the Iscariot her undivided attention as he spoke.

"Like any Hunter of Hunters meets their end, I'm afraid. The Bloody Crow of Cainhurst met her in battle. One Crow remained standing, another... left to bleed out at the highest step of the holiest site in Yharnam." Abel had no issue with remembering the moment as it was one he did his best to prevent in the future. It was a reminder to only fight alone if absolutely necessary and always have a secure escape route should you need to fall back.

Eileen, in her old age and her disconnection from the Hunters Dream, had more than met her match by the hands of a fellow apprentice to Gherman. Abel did not meet the Bloody Crow in battle as a fellow servant of the Queen, nor as a fellow apprentice to a bygone legend both loved and loathed.

Abel met the Bloody Crow as an avenging force of nature bent on his destruction, and destruction did that Crow face.

"After putting both Crows down, I took both of their masks, donning one as homage to a brother in arms fallen victim to the Curse and keeping the other as a reminder." Abel finally admitted, pulling himself from thoughts of the past.

Neither spoke after that, falling into a silence that was only broken by the sound of slightly strained breathing. Noticing that Yang continued to linger despite having spoken her mind, Abel eventually decided it was worth prying and voiced his question.

"Is something else on your mind, Xiao Long?" The slight concern in his voice was enough to make the girl finally snap out of her trance before causing her to frown.

"Don't call me that, makes me feel like I'm in trouble. My name is Yang, Oum damnit." Yang deflected the question skillfully, instead focusing on the fact that Abel continued to address her by nothing but her last name. "What I mean to say is... well... Just call me Yang, okay?"

Abel mutely nodded his head before extending his hand for her to take, a calculated risk that he felt was worth it even if she decided to scorn his attempt to bury the hatchet. "T'would only be possible if you refrained from calling me Iscariot. My name is Abel, a pleasure to meet you."

"It's... nice, to meet you too, Abel." Yang sighed before closing her hand around his, applying enough force to hurt even the hand of her father. When Abel showed no signs of discomfort and even sent her a small, challenging smile, Yang huffed and rolled her eyes before standing and stretching her arms above her head. "I won't tell anyone about what we just talked about and I'd mighty appreciate it if you didn't either. Thanks for not telling me to screw off, also, that was cool of you."

"...We both know I do not know the meaning of either phrase." Abel admitted while rising with her, doing his best not to yawn as she walked towards his door, "But you are most welcome?"

Yang looked over her shoulder and offered a small nod before returning to her shared dormitory, leaving Abel to collect his thoughts while he waited on Doll to return from Ozpins office for the night.

"What a strange girl..." Abel turned away from the doorway and continued to place his belongings in their proper place before pausing and glancing from his window.

Far past his line of sight, a masked being watched him through a pair of sophisticated looking binoculars before turning and disappearing into the darkness that night afforded when the lights in his room cut off.

 **[UPSM]**

"And that's when everything went absolutely bonkers! Everything was exploding like FWOOOOSH!" Ruby exclaimed as she continued to regale Abel with tales of the weekend Team RWBY experienced, a look of delight on her face despite continuing to speak of violence, explosions, blood and more violence.

The silver haired being blinked owlishly as the young Rose exploded from her seated position while throwing her hands above her head, slinging her breakfast to the right and directly into the hair of Yang. Weiss, who was about to respond with extreme force upon receiving scrambled eggs covered in ketchup to her white clothing, paled and began to back away nervously as a wild aura erupted around Yang.

Weiss and Blake both grabbed either arm of Abel before yanking him beneath the neighboring table quickly, watching with bated breath as Ruby began to dodge around the rapid fire bombardment of random food goods at the hand of Yang.

"But my breakfast..." Abel murmured almost pathetically, watching as Ruby picked up his tray and flung the food at Yang before using it as a makeshift shield to hide behind. Of course, Yang ended up dodging most of the return fire, causing many of the different food sources to rain down on innocent passersby, including both team CVFY and JNPR.

Soon, the entire dining hall had erupted into a war that Abel did not wish to partake in, instead slinking from beneath the tables despite Weiss and Blake warning him against moving for the time being. Snatching two rolls from the air as they flew passed his face, Abel continued to jerk his body out of harms way before dashing out of the facility dedicated to providing food for the growing Huntsmen of Beacon all together.

Weiss nodded her head appreciatively upon seeing the Paleblood Hunter make it through the onslaught without getting a drop on his person, admiring the footwork required to move in such a way. Turning to her temporary partner in crime, Blake and Weiss only needed a few seconds of looking at one another before both burst into motion, backing up each of their partners respectively.

A blond haired Monkey Faunus and his companion with blue hair continued to remain in their seats to the far right of the eatery, enjoying the show thoroughly. "Hey, who was that silver haired guy?" The blue haired teenager turned to question his Faunus friend, "He seems to be the smartest person here from the looks of things."

"No doubt, man," The Monkey Faunus laughed lightly before shaking his head in the negative, "I didn't get a chance to meet him yet, but I do know that he is an... acquaintance of Blake's. Why d'ya wanna know?"

"Just thought the way he moves was familiar is all..." The bluenette trailed off thoughtfully before moving his head to the right, allowing a large glob of gelatine to miss his face and impact the wall behind him, raining down strawberry flavored jell-o into the hair of either male.

Turning their attention to the direction the projectile originated from, The Monkey Faunus and his companion narrowed their eyes as Blake stared them down from across the dining hall, despite remaining in constant motion as to not receive food to the face.

'Hmm...' The blond thought to himself almost in suspicion before he cracked a grin, grabbed his food and joined the fight with gusto.

 **[UPSM]**

The classes Abel was asked to attend were becoming less and less informative as he became acclimated to the strange land he found himself in. While he couldn't admit to having fallen into a pattern, he would be hard pressed to say that he wasn't becoming used to being amongst such a strange mixture of people with abilities that only displayed their varying levels of insanity.

Since speaking with Yang a few nights prior, the two had returned speaking to one another in between classes when they passed, a huge weight seemingly lifted from the shoulders of the blond after revealing the real source of her anger. Being reminded of her mother every time she saw his eyes was more than enough to receive understanding from Abel. Should he meet someone who reminded him of his horrible past at almost every waking second, he had no doubt that he would be just as irritable.

Ruby seemed pleased that the two had begun speaking once more, going as far as pestering Abel for information about what the two spoke about. Weiss and Blake thought it wise to make a joke that went completely over the head of Abel, but it was more than enough to draw a reaction from the two sisters.

"Oh, not even." Yang deadpanned, pointing at herself before pointing at Abel. "Don't even go there."

"Where are we going?" Abel questioned with a slightly strained tone, trying to get a grasp on what was just said, "And not even? Did we not come to an understanding?"

"No, we did, just not how they seem to think. I thought you were above crude humor, snow white?" Yang questioned while tilting her brow challengingly towards Weiss, who was quick to deflect blame to Blake, who was pretending to not be paying attention in the slightest.

When Blake continued to remain completely blank in the face, Weiss began to sputter before defending herself further. "I am no rapscallion, nor am I crude in any way."

Ruby seemed almost too quiet before her giggles became too much to hold back, erupting into laughter in the middle of Combat Class.

Glynda looked less than pleased to see that the entirety of Team RWBY was goofing off, let alone while dragging Abel into their shenanigans at his expense.

"Since the lot of you seem to be in high spirits, how about we have that match you asked for, Miss Xiao Long?" The stern voice of Glynda Goodwitch cut through the shenanigans like a knife through butter, easily causing Ruby to cease her laughter while Abel and Yang turned to face one another.

With a shrug, Abel was the first to rise before leaving the room to retrieve his gear for the fight, having already decided on just how he wanted to deal with the inevitable confrontation between the two.

Yang was a powerful fighter, one who specialized in receiving damage through physical trauma and utilizing the stored energy to counter-attack. The only viable way that Abel thought to take down such an opponent would be one of two things. He could use the Blades of Mercy and overwhelm her with rapid blows to areas that are less protected than others, or he could do things the easy way.

Having watched the girl fight numerous opponents, Abel had finally come to understand that there was a limit to the amount of force that Yang can handle before her body naturally expelled the entire amount in one quick release, likely a fail safe to prevent her circulatory system from exploding outwards.

Say what you wish, but Abel was well studied when it came to the limits of the Human body, enhanced or otherwise.

Knowing this, his weaponry and preference for the coming fight was to return fire with an inferno. Yang watched Abel leave with a look of concentration on his face before she turned to regard her sister for the briefest of moments.

"You know sis, I kinda think this was a bad idea."

Ruby nodded her head knowingly before reaching out to pat her much taller sister on the shoulder sympathetically. "You'll be fine, trust me! Go get him, tiger!"

Weiss and Blake were glad that Ruby was quick to comfort her sister for neither believed that Yang was about to enjoy this experience, nor was Abel. They both had proven that they could take an absurd beating and remain standing with Abel easily able to keep the same pace through a hard fight even when receiving grievous injuries.

 **[UPSM]**

"I... don't remember that weapon having that attachment." Yang called out after seeing the massive weapon buckled to the right arm of the Good Hunter, the large spear-like appendage of the Stake Driver having been replaced with a solid black of iron with grooved surfaces etched on the face of the block.

"T'would be highly irresponsible of me to use such an attachment during a friendly duel." Abel nodded his head in affirmation at her observation, knowing that had he not changed the attachment, he would punch a hole the size of his head straight through her. As it was, the brute force of a well timed, fully charged attack might see her knocked out and removed from the fight and any other fights for the week.

Yang nodded her head slowly as she began to eyeball the stance Abel settled into, his right arm encased in a weapon she knew was called the Stake Driver while his left hand was calmly palming the holstered Evelyn.

From the way he was leaning more backwards than forward and with how far his feet were spread apart, Yang was confident that Abel would be playing more defensively than offensively during the fight, perhaps indicating that he did have some fear of being slugged in the face by Yang.

A small grin wormed onto the blonds face before she settled into her own boxing stance, Ember Celica sliding down and up both of her arms to encase them in the Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets that Yang wielded with ferocious skill.

"Are both fighters ready?" Glynda asked loudly upon seeing both settle into their respective stances across from one another. When Abel nodded his head and Yang gave a small 'Woot' as her confirmation, Glynda stepped far out of the way of the two juggernauts and gave them the breathing room they needed to clobber one another.

"I hope you are ready to eat the pavement, freakshow." Yang called out cheerfully before she placed both arms behind her and fired off explosive rounds from either gauntlet, propelling her forward at a pace that Abel was hard pressed to match without activating the quickening skill.

With a quick dash to his left, Abel was able to avoid a full body collision between himself and his opponent, instead extending the large piston that gave the Stake Driver its deadly power to extend his fists range before slamming it directly into her jaw.

To reciprocate the blow that she couldn't have dodged, Yang rolled under his second punch before slamming an explosive round into his solar plexus, sending him careening backwards and away from the center of the ring.

Abel was quick to rebound, rolling only twice before he was on his feet once more, rolling his right shoulder to remove the slight twinge of pain rearing its ugly head after feeling one of the muscles become strained in the shoulder area. 'She hits much harder than her size would indicate.'

As if reading his mind, Yang began to taunt Abel from across the ring, hoping to drive him into a rage and cause him to make more mistakes than he might should he remain calm and collected. "You were talking all that good smack about not being scared! Come on, Killer, hit me with your best shot!"

A small chortle of amusement was the only response Yang received before Abel disappeared in a tuft of crimson smoke, propelled forward at a pace that outstripped Yang's explosive enhanced flight by leagues before once again, the extended piston of the Steak Driver was introduced to her beautiful jawline.

Once, twice, three times did Abel release his rapid attacks, landing each blow despite the heavy weight of the deadly contraption he found himself wielding. He was reminded of his twelve confrontations with Djura, eleven of them ending with Abel careening over the edge of the large clock tower that Djura had taken refuge atop.

Yang slapped away the forth blow that would have rocked her, instead releasing her own concussive blow to the solar plexus of the Paleblood Hunter, sending him skidding backwards and out of range of her fists once more. Six shots rang out as hundreds upon hundreds of piping hot pellets pelted him from head to toe, tearing into his clothing and almost setting his hair ablaze as the fire expelled as well as the pellets washed over his body.

The standard Hunters attire consisting of a leather overcoat, a tricorn hat with two damaged folds and leather pants did little to prevent the fire from scalding his flesh, though the damage he should have received was heavily mitigated.

'Could this be the work of Aura?' Abel questioned himself unsurely as his crimson eyes darted from Yang to the large board that displayed the statistics of either fighter.

The two gauges that displayed either of their Aura levels were almost evenly matched with Yang coming out slightly ahead of Abel, causing the Good Hunter to suppress a wince and once more dash forward to engage Yang in combat.

'He isn't making this easy,' Yang thought to herself as she rolled to her right before sweeping her legs in a wide arc along the ground, attempting to remove the footing from beneath her opponent. She was successful in disturbing his placement, causing him to overcompensate with his blow and fall forward into a rolling motion to correct himself, 'I need to end this quickly.'

Little did Yang know that Abel was of the same mindset. "Where is your ferocity, Yang?"

Yang bared her teeth before jumping backwards and away from Abel, knowing that his goading was meant to lure her closer to him, something she was loathe to do after receiving four right hooks to the face already.

Her jaw was aching far more than any time she faced off against even her father, someone who specialized in close quarters combat far more than even she did.

"I'm saving it for someone special, sorry to disappoint you freakshow!" Yang called out before she began to rear her arm back. Spinning it once, twice, three times in a perfect rotation, Yang twitched her middle finger twice to switch her ammunition type before releasing one of her more explosive dust rounds directly into the center of the arena, sending a massive wave of debris and concussive force towards the Paleblood Hunter quicker than in her fight against the two sisters that acted as the bouncers for Juniors club.

Abel watched as the wave of stone and flame raced towards him before collecting the large pool of energy circulating through his blood before pooling it into his throat once more. Waiting until the wave was almost upon him, the Good Hunter threw both hands backwards as a terrifying roar ripped from his throat, matching the force of the oncoming onslaught and preventing most of the debris from impacting his body.

Spitting a large glob of blood to the side and wiping his mouth with the back of his left hand, Abel reached into his inner coat with the now bloodied left hand before withdrawing three throwing daggers. Within a second of the deadly weapons being removed from the confines of their holster, they were sent on a collision course directly with the chest, throat and face of Yang, causing her to quickly move to the left upon hearing the whistling of the blades piercing the air.

The dust that filled the air from both concussive waves preventing Yang from getting completely out of the way of the three blades, however, as three different strands of her hair fell to the ground slowly. Lilac eyes began to flicker before her entire body erupted into golden flames, carmine eyes almost the same shade as Abel's peering from the ethereal energy that encased her body.

'This is it.' Abel thought to himself confidently, having seen Yang enter her berzerker state after losing strands of her hair before the fight he now found himself in. As such, it was the only way he could bait her into attacking him on his terms instead of her own, thus tipping the end of the fight in his favor as opposed to her own.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Yang bellowed out, leaping into the air after getting a running start to descend upon Abel like a meteor raining from the Heavens.

Looking upwards, Abel couldn't help but compare the bright aura surrounding Yang to that of the sun, casting a brilliant light throughout the slightly darkened room. Closer and closer did Yang fall towards Abel, her right fist reared back while her left continued to blast scattershot towards him to keep him temporarily occupied.

Within two feet of impact, Abel sprang into action, the Evelyn resting at his hip coming to be at Yang's chest level while the blunt attachment of the Stake Driver slid backwards into its secondary form. The powerful gears inside of the Stake Driver began to spin rapidly before the force generated in a backwards motion reached its maximum potential.

"I apologize for this." Abel called out as he pulled the trigger of the Evelyn, releasing a large enough amount of force to stop Yang a foot from impact and suspend her in midair long enough for the overpowered piston within the Stake Driver to explode outwards, directly into the same spot that Abel had pummeled thrice.

Yang was launched backwards from the tremendous blow to her chin, flying almost parallel to the surface of the earth before impacting the wall almost fifteen feet behind her hard enough to bury her in the rubble kicked up from the concussive attacks of Yang and Abel.

Pulling the piston back into its containment and reloading his Evelyn with another dose of Bone Marrow Ash, Abel prepared himself for a second round if his first blow wasn't enough to knock her out. As he stalked forward to check on her and perhaps even reengage, Glynda once more called out and stopped him in his tracks.

"Yang Xiao Long has entered dangerous Aura levels, the match goes to Abel Iscariot."

With a heavy sigh, Abel allowed the mechanism within the Stake Driver to disengage before pulling the contraption from his right wrist and setting it down before moving forward to help pull Yang from the rubble.

When he was finally within arms reach of the large assortment of upturned concrete and stone slabs, a golden gauntlet covered fist erupted from the rubble and collided directly with his jaw, sending him directly into the realm of unconsciousness with a quickness.

The last thing Abel saw was the look of shock Yang was giving him through the large gap in the rubble.


End file.
